Look at all the regulations universities have. Look at some of the lecturers universities have. It’s always been way too top-down, and some people take advantage of that. Somewhere down the road students should produce a Students’ Bill of Rights. And two of the clauses will be:
- Homework shall be graded and returned in time for and solutions posted prior to exams. It is not just for your amusement at having a chance to take points off our final grades.
(US students will find this clause handy)
- Lecturers shall possess good presentation skills and be well-versed in the medium of instruction to be able to put together an effective delivery.
(My Singaporean friends will like this bit)
Tuition fees going up, universities moving towards “privatisation” (I know NTU is), but that means that…
IF WE PAY (MORE), YOU DELIVER (MORE).
Otherwise… would you like to sign in black and white, individually for each student, a mutually acceptable contract that includes the terms above that we can hold you legally responsible for should you fail to meet such terms, or hold you accountable in a court of law for misrepresentation, should you fail to meet the standards you advertise (“university of global excellence” comes to mind…) ?
I’ve always wondered what it would be like to sue a university. Should I try? Since the fashion of our time seems to be the commoditization of everything; even education is being commoditized now. It’s ugly and it sucks and I’ve pointed it out before, that education should not be some kind of product. But since that’s the way it is now, then play by the rules. I’m not satisfied. We pay, you deliver.
Read this related material from the New York Times.
1 response so far ↓
JS // Tuesday, February 24, 2009 at 7:42 pm |
Hah! Damn right about the good presentation part especially since I have suffered 4 bloody years at the hands of blabbering lecturers (most of them anyway).
Educators, professors or ministry-employed teachers, should at least be passionate about molding the future and by cultivating human capital.
Sadly, most university lecturers lacked that passion to enthuse their students. They are mainly there (I suppose) for what they do “best”: research, research, and more research.
However, my advice is this: if you do not give a damn about knowledge transfer than please… please… stay in those research institutes like the mad scientist that pop culture made you out to be. You will be doing everyone a favor.”