Re: Pedagogy

[Bernard Cleyet <anngeorg@PACBELL.NET>]

I feel for you.

My experience is probably not as varied as others (PHYS-L), but I've
TA'd (demonstrated) at four Us (two foreign) and worked for ~14 years at
another.  [plus teaching at six community colleges]  What you describe
is totally foreign.  While I was an undergraduate one instructor was
fired because he belittled the students, similarly to your description,
after his first year.

bc

Fernanda Foertter [Advanced Physics Forums] wrote:

> Hello all,
>
>    I have a question to ask.  I'm currently at a university with a small
> Physics Dept.  It has around 25 faculty.  I've struggled tremendously with
> the teaching style, which to say the least, is eclectic.  There is really no
> departmental minimum.  Each professor is left to do whatever he/she pleases
> and there is no one to check.  Not only that but there is no rotation...so
> there are professors that have been teaching a course for at least a decade.
> Students complain, nothing is done...
>
>    So my question is this:  Is this something common?  Is this what also
> happens at other schools all the way up to Ivy League?  Are there schools
> that really seem interested in making Physicist out of Joe Shmoe off the
> street?  Or like where I attend "if you can't learn on your own, tough."
>
>    I feel like my department wreaks of elitism.  Basically, if you can't
> learn on your own, you shouldn't be here.  In one Classical Mechanics
> course, the prof offered no more than the notes off of Marion's book.  No
> examples on how to solve problems.
>
>    My QM course was laid out with theory alone... no applications or how to
> attack problems.  My Stat Mech course's final exam was on a chapter of a
> book that the professor never covered.  I've yet to be shown how to attack
> Thermo problems.
>
>    I also find my department lacks the overlap I hear my friends at other
> universities speak of.  That is, there is a certain expectation that "you
> should have learned this in Modern Physics...or your math course."
> Hopefully your teacher didn't skip that part or you'd be out of luck
> learning on your own.
>
>    And then there is my all time favorite: When asking a prof about a
> problem the answer begins with " this is easy."
>
>    The worst part is that since one is coming from such a small dept, the
> general idea is that they should have a perfect GPA since it's so easy, when
> in fact, teaching is mediocre.  It also troubles me that there is a general
> departmental feeling that if you have been taught the theory, you should
> know how to solve problems.  This is akin to teaching a surgeon body parts
> and expecting him to perform surgery...
>
>    Or is it?  Or am I describing Physics departments across America?  I'm
> so frustrated that I couldn't afford to leave town...I feel like this was a
> waste of my time.  I feel like throwing away 6 years of school cause is just
> feels hopeless...