Re: Students and Tests

[PHRP@FHSUVM.FHSU.EDU (Roger A. Pruitt)]

> 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. 

I quite agree that there is a fundamental difference between education and
business, and this fact alone makes assessment such a difficult task in
education. However, as I see it assessment of our physics programs is here
to stay at least for a while. How do we best cope with this? How do we
consider our program? Do we try to meet the desires of the students or meet
the needs of the students and how they will ultimately best fit into
"society" where by society I mean career fields, etc.

> 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. 

I hope you are "preaching to the choir" here. I'm personally tired of
educational administrator trying to apply business methods to education

> 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
Roger Pruitt