CandidProf: Leading the unprepared
Thursday, June 19th, 2008CandidProf is a Professor of Physics and Astronomy at a state university. He’ll be sharing his thoughts and experience teaching today’s students anonymously every Thursday— anonymously because that’s the only way he can write truly candid posts.
I teach physics and astronomy. Physics, in particular, is a very mathematical subject. That means that students are expected to be able to solve complex problems. The introductory astronomy for non-majors also has some mathematics, though it is very simplistic. Both classes require reading and studying. Unfortunately, most of my students come to college not having learned these skills at the level needed to be successful in college. While teaching any student is difficult, teaching the unprepared ones is particularly challenging.
There are many reasons that students are not well prepared. Where I teach, the state has mandated a series of tests. School funding is tied to these tests. The more students who do well on the tests, the more money the school gets. So, there is pressure to teach to the test, not to prepare students for college or a career. Unfortunately the tests are not good predictors of how students will fare in college. These tests are fairly simplistic. Students learn to memorize key words. This word matches that word. If you ask them the shape of the Earth, they will say that it is round. That is the answer as worded on the test. But, round in what way. A surprising number of my students don’t realize that round means spherical. Many of my students envision Earth as a disk. Anything that is not tested is seldom taught in school. So, my students come to me with great holes in their knowledge and skill base.
Students need to be properly prepared in order to be led to learning. An Army officer cannot lead troops into battle that have never fired a weapon. No matter how good of a leader someone is, he will fail if he tries to lead troops that have never been trained. No matter how wonderful a corporate leader someone may be, he will be unsuccessful in leading an airline that does not have anybody who knows how to fly an airplane. The best surgeon on Earth will lose his patient on the operating table if he tries to head up a surgical team composed of himself and people taken from the street who have never even seen an operation, much less assisted in one. The most loyalty inspiring leader on the planet will fail as a fire chief if no one in his fire department has ever had any fire fighting training.
Now, these may be extreme examples, but similar principles occur in education.
What do you think?
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Image credit: jaden