I have previously mentioned my two professional passions: research and teaching. I also tried to give you some idea of the difference I see right now between my past and my future, research-wise (very little and all positive). But what about teaching?
Teaching is very much part of my core. Be it an theoretical course or a practical session, it does a great job of keeping me warm and fuzzy. Wrapped in the very fabric of the field, I can reach out and connect. I have always imagined that few things are more satisfying than the development (pun intended - read the previous posts) of a course from scratch. To inspire students and give them a foundation to build on. To rise and never fall. To boldly go... Let it be clear: the opportunity to teach can make me put up with a lot (but only so much). It also forces one to keep the fundamental truths of the chosen path in mind.
The current views on higher (college, university or should that be universal) education are being twisted by strategic planning. Somehow, even the shortest introduction to a field has to have "finality" and direct application to some industrial problem when the student graduates. Value in the job market. These values are, unfortunately, not in favour of the great teachers becoming renowned higher educators. Paranoia? Maybe. Even more unfortunately, they are also not in favour of great researchers becoming great teachers. It makes them become managers. The world does not need more managers.
Recently, someone asked me why people with a physics background seemed to fit into the telecom world so easily, no matter what their original field. Helloooooo ? In the spirit of the great Balmer, all together now
Fundamentals, fundamentals, fundamentals, fundamentals, fundamentals, ...
Let this be a plea to all the teachers in higher education: teach the truths, not the worn down tracks ! End of idealistic rant (who needs coherence in a blog post anyway?).
[1] More about about poo/Poo/Pu in a later post.
Posts
1 comment:
good to see new posts coming along with the new year ;)
About teaching, it's something that never really cathed my attention, neither I am passionate about it. But I have to say that my point of view on it changed quite a lot when I started working at TONA, mainly as a Ph.D. studet.
Durig my time as a telecom engineer student back in my university in Spain, I saw the teachers as those persons who are supose to devote their lives to Teaching, and MUST know the answer for (almost) all the questions about their subject. I was a bit disappointed when they were cancelling or delaying classes and tutorial sessions, or they didn't know how to answer very basic questions. I could not understand how a telecom engineering teaching "Transmission systems" could not know how to integrate a Tan(x). Come oooon! It's your job, damn it!
Well, now I see. After some years working at "the other side", I realised that teaching for most of the teachers is just a secondary thing, mainly an annoyance to their research time. Students are not really important for them and they don't care about the quality of the knowledge, and even more worrying, the way they reach the students and teach their lessons.
Of course, there are always nice exceptions to this, and I have had great teachers in my degree, but a general rule (at least in my university in Spain) is that teaching is just what you have to go through to get funds to do your research, and the less time and effort you invest on it, the better. Too bad.
However, I have to say that at TONA, things are a bit different from my point of view, because the guys teaching are guys that realy enjoy doing it (as you did in your time here). Maybe that's why there is so few people in charge of the lessons on a more-than-40-people department. But that's another story... ;)
Post a Comment