"At universities, introductory courses are generally taught by young, inexperienced teaching assistants, while Lone Star instructors are older and much more experienced. Students at Lone Star are getting excellent teachers at costs too cheap. I told my own students that they are being over subsidized. Not one disagreed, though they did not want to hear it."
While introductory courses, at SOME universities, are occasionally taught by young teaching assistants, the blanket statement of "At universities" implies all universities, and "are generally taught by teaching assistants" implies this is the rule, lacks any fact based evidence. In the same sentence, "Loan Star teachers are older" also lacks evidence. The average instructor, of my five classes this semester at Loan Star, is in his/her early 40's and I am older than ALL of them. The phrase "more experienced" compares the instructors at Loan Star to instructors at universities. There are more professors with PhD degrees and longer tenure at universities than there are at Lone Star. While comparing instructors, "excellent" instructors at Lone Star might better be termed "competent" or "capable" or even "qualified"."Costs too cheap" is relative to costs of universities solely. However, Lone Star is still a community college that does not command a larger price tag as it does not offer the degrees offered by universities. Very little honest feedback can be expected from students when they are "told" that they are over subsidized by their professor. I suspect the students hear little if lectures are painted with such a broad brush as outlined in this letter. A large number of these students are here to learn, get an Associates degree, and move on to a university to complete their education. Don't get me wrong, I plan on teaching at a community college in the near future. However the object is to educate students; not preclude their ability to attend by taking away the subsidizing.
No comments:
Post a Comment