"...[A]cademic rigor means an intellectual commitment to study issues thoroughly with open-minded, vigorous and ethical inquiry. It means accepting the possibility that evidence will lead us to think differently than we do at present" (garyh, LearningTimes Discussions, General, Academic rigor, February 13, 2008).
Blogged with Flock
In what appears at first glance very much in contrast with the topic and quotation focusing this post, I've just run across an interesting series of comments posted in response to a survey on the National Teaching and Learning Forum. The survey is a follow-up on an article published in the forum, and it begins like this:
ReplyDelete1. You've read Professor Neil Williams' "The Rules of Engagement: Socializing College Students for the New Century" in the National Teaching and Learning FORUM. In the main, do you agree or disagree with his approach to establishing a civil environment in college classes?
Since I connected to the site in a round-about fashion, following a special announcement from the Tomorrow's Professor mailing list (March 1, 2008 10:40:37 JST), I have not read the article itself. So I skipped straight to the display of the open-ended item responses.
The 20th of over sixty comments to date inspired me to pause and blog about one: "... Students seem to think 1) college is an extension of high school and 2) therefore professors are not professionals with other aspects to their job[s], but "only" teachers...." Though the reasoning escapes me, that first bit of the 20th response suggests lack of a life-long learning perspective in which we may view even post-graduate studies a an extension of nursery school. It also hint of disrespect for teachers.
The 20th respondent continues, "I don't know if it's a general lowering of standards of etiquette, or a symptom of the disrespect toward college professors I see beyond the university environment" (anonymous, no date). As often as we hear moans of diminishing standards of this, that, and the other thing from college professors, I'm wonder-struck that we get any respect.