Help! PBS Program on Lack of Rigour at Universities

PBS had a program the other night noting problems in RA universities in terms of students not really learning or developing. The study demonstrated large numbers of students who never cracked a book nor learned the material and yet had 3.4 (and higher GPA's). They learned to take the tests and there was an unwritten law among professors that "You don't bother me and I won't bother you". Some students had hardly if ever had to write analytical papers. Instead they were taking multiple choice/true and false exams. One professor commented that she could not really have class discussion on substantive topics within the course because the students had neither read nor learned the material.

It was very interesting and somewhat depressing but I did not catch the end of the program so if anyone knows which PBS program it was I would like to know so I can obtain a transcript.

Thanks.

North

 

One of the schools...

...mentioned was my alma mater, the University of Arizona. Maybe I'm stoopid, but I had to work hard to get through! I was a journalism major and the profs were on me all the time. We had small classes and I had lots (too much?) individual attention. I know the PBS program showed large lecture halls (gee, does that happen at any other division one school in the first two years?), college students drinking (duh?), kids not challenged.... They can cherry pick and put in scary music to make you feel about any way they want on these things. Now, I will say this. Go to a Research I school and understand that teaching is an after thought. Period. Faculty in tenure track positions are graded by RESEARCH, service to the community/profession, and teaching (haha, yeah... ok... don't believe it). I'm the guy that guy a teaching award at a Research I school 20-plus years ago and heard the other old profs whisper "kiss of death." They weren't lying. You get what you reward. Reward teaching = more emphasis on teaching.

 

Could it have been this?
http://www.shoppbs.org/product/index.jsp?productId=2018341
Jack

 

U Da Man Jack!

Thanks.

North

Ps I really enjoy PBS. I am generally conservative politcally & theologically but I am a big supporter of PBS. Wish the gov't would keep their hands off it. Provides a much needed break from some of the regular diet of drivel on the big three network stations. I don't have cabel so Hisotry Channel, Discovery, etc are out for me.

 

Oh! And all those students on dangerous performance-enhancing carcinogenic drugs like caffeine!

 

Yes, I saw the show as well. You can order a copy from PBS.org. It was called "Declining by Degrees."

I think for me, the most depressing thing was the larger number of part-time faculty than in the past, making a lot less money. Based on what I saw around here on campus, and on the show, I am seriously reconsidering the utility of spending another couple of years to finish my PhD.

 

Re: It's that or John Boy and Billy

I've been surprised that libertarians haven't latched on to distance/alternative education as countervailing to the current quasi-governmental system of higher education.

This from Paul Sperry in Reasononline:

Sperry

To be frank, I think the libertarian movement has devolved to something more elitist than principled.

 

I've taken classes at RA schools ranging from 4th to top tier. I can't really recall ever taking a multiple choice test.

There were lots of short answer and fill-in-the-blanks tests, particularly when I was a biology major. Sometimes calculations were called for (work had to be shown) or else we had to look through microscopes and identify what was at the end of a pointer or something.

In my philosophy major we sometimes had short answer quizzes, but just about every class had an old-style in-class blue-book essay final.

 

Re: libertarianism

I'd forgotten about Rampart College. Didn't set any records for longevity.

Corporations...hmmm! I don't know how many libertarians are high on corporations. I'm not and I'm not sure they belong in the category of free-market capitalism. Not as constituted, that is.

 

Re: Re: libertarianism

A corporation, by the way, is not necessarily a big Fortune 500 company. Most corporations are small business. All a corporation is is an artificial legal person created to: (a) carry on some type of business and (b) separate the business assets from the personal assets of the owner(s). And, for that matter, big corporations are nothing more than formerly small businesses who found a need & filled it and got economically rewarded for so doing and re-invested their profits and grew.

 

Re: Re: Re: libertarianism

Ach! Terrible answer for a history maven.

How about being chartered by the state to effect a result in exchange for limited liability? Antedated but the legacy persists.