Issue50

doris_gxcUID: 2370933

TOPIC: ISSUE50 - "In order to improve the quality of instruction at the college and university level, all faculty should be required to spend time working outside the academic world in professions relevant to the courses they teach."
WORDS: 591          TIME: 01:00:00          DATE: 2007-8-14 20:46:02

Indeed, for a professor to find a work in society relevant to the field he is involved can give him a chance to view in a realistic way, which help him to master the subject well and rightly focus on the future of it. However, to improve the quality of instruction also need an understanding of the students taught by him, so the time spent on working outside should be limited. Additionally, it may not be necessary to force the all the faculty to do so when their specific fields are taken into consideration.

I concede that, working outside the school may gain the teacher experience. Thus, the content he teaches on classes may closely connect to the real society. On the one hand, the problems that are most easily to happen in the real industrial world could be drew attentions on. On the other hand, the teacher may know exactly what kinds of person the company need, after talking with the managers. Moreover, even the demanding of the market could be discerned by those teachers full of business talent. Like Maple, the software company found in the University of Waterloo, students surround by the air of practical may be quickly involved in the industrial world. Besides, the money resulted from the cooperation with that business world may benefit the reaching and teaching in return. As a result, if the quality of instruction is only relied on the content taught on classed and money available, no doubt that the teachers' outside working will promote the instruction.

But, in fact, other factors are also indispensable to improve the quality of instruction, such as to understand the needs of students and to find better method on teaching. Since both of these require certain time spent on, it may not be appropriate to spend too much of time on the works outside the school.
Purpose of education is to find the potential of the students, even if there is a large demanding on engineers those who love music or art can no be held back to chairs to be imbued those science subjects meaningless to them. Therefore teachers should have a fully acknowledgement of students. What is more, if the teacher does not know how to convey his knowledge to others, the quality of instruction may not be sufficient high, no matter how well-known the professor is. Cases like John Nash, who are well done in academy but not good at teaching, are countless. Consequently, only by the experience acquired by practical works is not enough to improve th quality of instruction.

Besides, neither is it necessary nor possible to ask the faculty to find works outside the academic world. Professors, teaching and researching in the fundamental theory, may not own the necessity to do practical works. Students on classes of them only want to know how to solve a equation or how is the concept defined. They have other chances to know about the demanding of the industry world. Furthermore, not all the faculty in university have the ability to find a job outside academic. Since each one has the job most fitted to him, compulsory advise on the works outside school seems unwise.

In sum, true it is that the experience on industry work benefits the academic, when it comes to the instruction towards students, the understanding of them and skills on teacher also compose the factors that impact the quality of the teaching. In addition, since things are different, not every faculty should be required to work outside the academic.