The Wilds of Education – NYTimes.com.
I commented. For readers of this blog, I will put my last paragraph first.
Last Paragraph
“If someone had no idea what a university was, and only learned about them from reading the papers (rape scandals, football scandals, law school scandals, overseas building scandals, misleading educational standards, etc…), would they let their kids near the places?”
Preceding Part of the Comment
“As a former professor, the take away from this editorial is clear. I will start with college.
From avoiding provocative readings and speakers, to inflating grades, the driving force is the university as a business, catering to “consumer wants”, rather than “student needs”. (Those are rarely the same.)
Then, just like the dumbing down of AP courses, the actions of our universities “rain down” on k-12. High school teachers learn to inflate grades and deflate material. Even worse, the colleges do such a poor job of educationg future teachers, that those teachers don’t have the education or skills that they need to defend their educational decisions – or even make good decisions.
(With respect to dumbing down AP courses, I have a quote on my blog, inside-higher-ed, from an AP Committee Chair; he writes that if enough colleges cover the material, then they put it on the exam. It doesn’t take a math professor – which I am – to recognize the lowest common denominator.)”
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