Now you won't ever hear a politician criticize the electorate, and neither
are you often likely to hear academics criticize students, but..
If I were to list some of the comments of colleagues, some students are
Its bad enough with the backdoor re-introduction of fees that many well-motivated students will not be able in future to afford third level education, but its crazy to let the system become clogged with the clearly disinterested. The long term impact on graduate quality is frightening.
It almost makes me blush to say it, but a good teaching-learning outcome requires teachers passionate about their subject and students equally passionately interested in that subject. I was reminded recently of what that feels like when I taught a semester in the University of Mzuzu in Malawi (second poorest country in the world). Students so eager to learn they were almost ripping the knowledge out of my head!
Frankly third level education here often lacks that passion, and the even the most passionate teacher will wilt after years of exposure to clearly disinterested students.
I think in future we should consider making entry to third level dependent on the student demonstrating some considerable interest in their chosen subject.
Of course many of our students already fully fit the bill in this regard, and in our case we are fortunate that so many have a passion for computing as reflected in the energy and creativeness exhibited by the student computer society - see http://www.redbrick.dcu.ie/
While its clearly a noble objective to have 70% plus of second level students move onto third level, noble aspirations have a way of running aground on the rocks of reality. I personally believe in mass participation in third level education, but only when people are ready for it. Many of the students I have met who are most passionate about third level education are those involved in "second chance" education as mature students, when they have finally figure out what they want to do.
If I were to list some of the comments of colleagues, some students are
- Poorly motivated
- Poorly educated
- Completely distracted by Facebook/Youtube
- Often absent from lectures/tutorials
- generally disengaged
- limited in attention span
- Filled with a sense of entitlement
- too busy doing a part-time job
Its bad enough with the backdoor re-introduction of fees that many well-motivated students will not be able in future to afford third level education, but its crazy to let the system become clogged with the clearly disinterested. The long term impact on graduate quality is frightening.
It almost makes me blush to say it, but a good teaching-learning outcome requires teachers passionate about their subject and students equally passionately interested in that subject. I was reminded recently of what that feels like when I taught a semester in the University of Mzuzu in Malawi (second poorest country in the world). Students so eager to learn they were almost ripping the knowledge out of my head!
Frankly third level education here often lacks that passion, and the even the most passionate teacher will wilt after years of exposure to clearly disinterested students.
I think in future we should consider making entry to third level dependent on the student demonstrating some considerable interest in their chosen subject.
Of course many of our students already fully fit the bill in this regard, and in our case we are fortunate that so many have a passion for computing as reflected in the energy and creativeness exhibited by the student computer society - see http://www.redbrick.dcu.ie/
While its clearly a noble objective to have 70% plus of second level students move onto third level, noble aspirations have a way of running aground on the rocks of reality. I personally believe in mass participation in third level education, but only when people are ready for it. Many of the students I have met who are most passionate about third level education are those involved in "second chance" education as mature students, when they have finally figure out what they want to do.
