I was driving and decided to change station. An NPR station was interviewing the author of the book Dark Ages America, if I am not mistaken.
What caught my attention were some statistics about the educational level of the population and the idea we are “commoditizing” knowledge. In other words, students are the customers and we are trying to please them, not necessarily challenge them.
This comment reminded me of various interesting situations in my teaching assignments as an adjunct professor in colleges and universities.
I taught for several years a course on management decision making and business cycles. Students recognized my enthusiasm for the subject and gave me an A as an instructor (one of the few A’s I might add).
In one class I had a mature lady who wrote the final essay (I still believe essays are better than multiple choice tests). She wrote all the right words, but the whole paper did not make any sense at all. I just could not give her a passing grade. No way.
Well, I got in trouble with discrimination issues. I had to write a 40 page document explaining my reasons to the president of the college. It was a painful experience.
I changed the tests and made them multiple choice. The right answer, however, was a combination of true and false within the same question. Students loved to hate me for this “innovation”. But they still respected me and told me they appreciated the challenge.
Then the professor evaluation form was introduced. At the beginning students enjoyed my style. Then, as I tried to implement the students’ suggestions, my evaluations began to deteriorate rapidly. I was changing into someone I was not and the students did not like it. I became unhappy.
I could not give too many C’s. I had to please the students. I had to be careful about their ethnicity. I could not give them tough tests. Conclusion. I quit teaching. It was not fun for me anymore. Too much pressure in trying to please the market. Education was not a priority. This is the risk of “commoditizing” knowledge.
More on http://www.peterdag.com/.
George Dagnino, PhD
Editor, The Peter Dag Portfolio
Since 1977
2 comments:
I totally support the idea that writing an essay is much better that having multiple choice tests. Certainly for students it can be easier to circle answers but it doesn`t develop their thinking ability and cannot show their individuality. At the first stages it can seem difficult but of learners practice a lot and probably use such resources helponessay.com it will take them less time. But as the reward they will get important skills and they are important not only for getting good mark but also for future life. Unfortunately nowadays it brings lots of problems to educators as it is not so easy to explain your decision to everyone.
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