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Re: Students and Tests



I'm sorry but I just don't think education fits any business model at all.

Students are not products or consumers, neither is knowledge. Learning is
fundamentally different from buying and selling; it is far more complicated
than that. It is quite possible to overlay a business model on many things
(education, sexual behavior, religion etc.) but just because you can draw
some loose analogies doesn't mean this is a meaningful way to look at these
things. A business model is just not a useful way to look at what education
is and does. Sure there is money involved, administrators, legislators and
tax payers want to know how their money is spent, but I think answering
that question with "bottom line" type answers like how many students can be
educated for how many dollars or lets sell (teach) the student or employer
what they want (rather than what they need) is seriously wrong headed.
Instead we need to think about how to convince these people that learning
is intrinsically interesting and a useful lifelong habit (and fundamentally
different from selling refrigerators).

kyle


On Thu, 5 Dec 1996, David Dockstader wrote:
On Thu, 05 Dec 96 07:44:16 EST Emilio O. Roxin said:
1. What is the purpose of the course? That students learn physics.

Maybe, on a larger scale, to prepare them for life in the real world, where
it is generally expected that work be done right and it be done on time.
My perception is that many of today's students would not agree with this
statement. The typical course syllabus does not contain any reference
to "work habits" as one of the expected outcomes of the course. One of the
paradigm shifts that has taken place in many locations is viewing the
student as a customer. As such, they are purchasing your time. You are
to deliver to them a certain amount of content as specified in the course
syllabus.
Bruce Esser

This is certainally one way to view students and is one that has been
debated around here. However, another view and a better one, I think, is to
view the eventual employer or graduate school as the customer and the
student as our product. It is our job as teachers to turn out the best
product that we can.

Roger Pruitt

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