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Could it be that some of our present problems with education are a result
of teachers trying to hard to improve teaching? We remember our own
education: the blood, sweat and tears it took us to wrestle an education
from a reluctant university, with the ever-present-fear of flunking
haunting our every step. We remember professors who gave apparently
unpolished lectures, leaving huge gaps, many ambiguities and even errors
in their presentations. We remember unfriendly textbooks which seemed
"over our heads". We recall intimidating exams with sometimes ambiguously
worded questions, and lab instructions only a few paragraphs long. We
can't forget the rigid grading standards. We think of those many hours
burning the midnight oil to get homework done on time, and in the library,
seeking information and insights we didn't find in the classroom. We'll
never forget those professors whose attitude was "They shall not pass!"
for they still haunt us in our dreams. Somehow, in spite of such a
haphazard, indifferent and shoddy education, we managed to learn, and even
to excel, in our chosen subject.
So now that we are teachers, caring individuals that we are, we hope to
spare *our* students all of this grief. We choose textbooks with lots of
worked examples, attractive color layout, study aids, overhead
transparencies [and now computer-aided-instruction]. We spend hours
preparing class handouts to help students over the rough and difficult
spots. We agonize to make the wording clear and unambiguous, and try to
ensure that every question has a simple and closed answer. We prepare
detailed laboratory instructions, leaving nothing to chance. We relax the
grading standards to remove any hint of intimidation, so we won't bruise
tender egos and stifle motivation. We go to conferences to improve our
teaching skills and polish our classroom presentations, enthusiastically
jumping on the bandwagon of each new educational fad which promises to be
the panacea which will at last make education a productive, friendly and
happy experience. We shun the role as "gatekeepers of our discipline" and
see our role as "supportive coaches". We enthusiastically accept the
proposition that everyone is educable, if you make the courses simple
enough and take out all the tough stuff which causes brain-strain. Our
goal seems to be to make education an effortless experience for the
student.