23 Jun
2004
23 Jun
'04
12:49 p.m.
On Wed, 2004-06-23 at 22:51, Fred Cisin wrote:
> I think that we are getting more than a little past what I can
> realistically teach beginners in one semester.
On Wed, 23 Jun 2004, Jules
Richardson wrote:
Give them the course in zip format :-)
While too much for the first semester intro to asm class,
many of these proposals would make a GREAT textbook!
Ten or twenty
years ago, we could add followup, more advanced
classes into the schedule. Now I'm in a [losing] fight for
survival, trying to keep programming classes alive. If they
ask me to teach Microsoft Weird again, I might not survive.
Teachers over here are under increasing pressure to deliberately teach
and test students in areas in which they already have prior knowledge.
It has the effect of raising pass marks and making the school look good
in the Government-imposed league tables, and of course makes the
Government look good because they can show how their policies must be
working because there has been a marked improvement in pass rates since
previous years. Teachers over here aren't actually allowed to
think for themselves any
more - just about minute of the day is dictated by central Government
and the workload in terms of red-tape is incredible (naturally leaving
less time for real teaching). Universities are - AFAIK - still
self-governing, but I'm not sure whether that'll last.
There is a tradition in the USA that, within the classroom,
a professor is in absolute control.
But now they want much more detail in course outlines,
with people who know nothing about the subject matter
having veto power over content, administrators who
firmly believe that no course is appropriate in the
college that goes into more detail of the subject than
they personally know, an administrator who [incorrectly]
insists that it is "ILLEGAL" for us to offer ANY course
that is taught as "upper division" (third or fourth year)
in any of the 4 year schools (including two courses that
one of the state 4 year schools COPIED from us), a
vice president who wanted to be a high school principal
instead, etc.
Retirement is starting to be interesting.
--
Grumpy Ol' Fred cisin(a)xenosoft.com