I found this article on Inside Higher Ed just hours after completing the readings for our next class. I love when our resources connect in this way! The article is titled "Socratic Backfire" and is about faculty tenure, as its core, but the article also raises another really important point as well. The point that irritated me more than anything was about today's college students and how they learn.
In short, a business faculty member was let go from his position at a school in Utah. While people are let go from their positions all the time in this economy, the article describes that at the center of this issue, this faculty member had left a tenured position in Texas to take the job in Utah and for some reason that the article does not describe, he had expected to be awarded tenure within one year in Utah. Instead he was fired. He is currently employed at another school, but it paid less and is not on a tenure track. There is a lawsuit in motion. The article also does not describe why the faculty member decided to leave Texas for Utah originally, anyway.
Both the topics of technology and the academic profession from our readings are referenced as issues in this article. In our book chapter , it had been mentioned that fewer and fewer tenured positions exist and that most new faculty are brought on in a temporary or part-time basis. That trend could leave one to wonder if some institutions are looking for ways to not award tenure. Perhaps more schools are weighing student opinion heavier than peer opinion in tenure decisions? I am not really sure how I feel about tenure as general practice. On the macro level, I think it is becoming an antiquated process for today's world. How many people, regardless of profession, are really in a job or location very long these days? However, on the micro level- when I have a good faculty member, of course I would want him or her to be recognized and rewarded for their talents.
One of the issues raised in the article is teaching method. In the example of this professor, he was using the Socratic method of guided group discussion, calling on people to participate in discussion, and focusing on the process of learning as much if not more that the content of what was being learned. While he was not necessarily fired because he taught in this manner, the students did not respond well to this style and left bad evaluations, which led to the firing. So, certainly, it did contribute. I am bothered that today's students have not been brought up in an educational system that values this kind of learning. Instead, most of today's youth have been indoctrinated into a "teach to the test philosophy" by our education system.
From the earliest years of elementary schools, kids learn for the purpose of doing well on an exam. Teachers have been teaching for the purposes of having their class do well on various assessments. I cant say that I blame the teachers- they have been told that their jobs depend on student performance on these exams. The schools themselves are at risk of shutting down or reorganizing if the school does not perform. I have never been a fan of the CSAP's in Colorado for these reasons. When children are learning for the sake of getting a good grade on one exam or a certain score on a grade level assessment, it completely alters the students perception of the educational process. They are never encouraged to think about a problem and determine a solution; they are not encouraged to engage in discussion to evaluate all layers of an issue; they are not often permitted to formulate an opinion and share those opinions with others....they are not allowed to learn in a Socratic method. So, of course, when they get to college, they are going to be put-off or alarmed by this sudden change in teaching methodology.
So, while I do place blame in the hands of the public school system for this disconnect, I am also frustrated that students are so willing to just give up and complain rather than trying to explore something new. I am surprised that this was such a foreign concept to these students. I was in college, not too long ago, and I remember a large majority of my courses being instructed in this manner. The article does suggest that this is a more likely method in the Humanities and my degree was in history, so maybe that is why it seems so familiar at the undergraduate level.
As it relates to our article on technology, I wonder if students loose interest too easily when technology is not a tool used in the instruction? I am not one that needs technology to keep me engaged, but I am of a different generation that our traditional students. The article does not mention the age of this particular faculty member, but I do wonder if there is at least one or two generation gaps that makes him and the Socratic Method unrelatable to the students.
I hope there is more to this story...I just cant believe he was fired because of the Socratic Method!
You bring up an interesting point about technology use in the classroom. Having only been out of my undergrad for a year and a half, I only used a computer or technology regularly in one class, if that, a semester. My program worked a lot in groups and utilized the seminary style. I think it's difficult to blame the students for not trying something new when in reality, maybe this professor just wasn't teaching effectively for the students to learn. It's rare that I was in a class where the students unanimously complained about a teacher unless they had really given them a reason to.
ReplyDeleteI have a hard time believing there is not more to the story. If a professor was fired solely due to negative student reviews because he/she was teaching them how to think rather than giving them the answers (basically) then I would be shocked. There has to be other elements to this.
ReplyDeletePart of my doc program internship is teaching. Based off of the teaching experiences of my cohort members, our Master's students consistently provide constructive feedback about wanting more content. Basically, they want to know what will be on the test and do not want experiences that develop their critical thinking skills. When has critical thinking skills ever served them in their education prior to now?
I think Michele is right on with this post and when she says public schools and CSAP testing conditions students to learn in a certain way. I also agree that there is a need for education to be geared more toward Socratic questioning and developing critical thought. These are real world skills that will serve our students for the remainder of their lives, not being mindless answer seekers.
I find this post and the following comments interesting, I think mostly thinking from a generational perspective. I fall somewhere in the middle of everything that has been mentioned. I was born and raised in Colorado but am too old to have taken CSAP's. We did take ITBS tests but I don't think there was the pressure on teachers back then to teach to the test like it is with CSAP's now (someone please correct me if I'm wrong). On a side note, I considered being a teacher for a while and "teaching to tests" is one of the reasons I opted away from that. I know a handful of teachers who feel like their creativity is squelched by the demands of test score results.
ReplyDeleteWhile in my undergrad, I don't feel like I had a lot of classes that were geared toward critical thinking and problem-solving. At least half of my degree was still "what's the answer" so I can do well on this test. Perhaps there was a good enough mix, however, that I did learn something beyond school for the reason of testing.
Also, there wasn't an insane amount of technology used in my classrooms or required by the majority of my classes. I think technology in the last 5-7 years has boomed.
Regarding the professor and his teaching style and what his students think...I have mixed feelings. While I do believe professors should be somewhat "with the times" I would hope that their teaching style wouldn't be ridiculed to the point of losing their job. While technology should play a role in some classes and schoolwork, I do believe there's something to be said for "old school" methods.