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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." I agreed partially with the assertion because experiences and empirical knowledge of the faculty is significant to the quality of instruction. While working in relevant profession can consolidate their conceptual framework and bridge the gap between theory and its application, it might not be the most efficient way which should be imposed to improve the quality of instruction irrespective of disciplines.
Practice of higher education is not conducted in a vacuum though it enjoys a certain level of academic freedom and autonomy. Instead, economic development exerts great influences over higher education. Vocationalism at college and university is thriving, leading to an obvious correlation between discipline and profession indicates the increasing importance of experiences: medical school students are expected to become doctors; law school students are future attorneys. It is legitimate for students from these professions to demand an experienced doctor or lawyer as their professors. Lecturing theories alone would not constitute a qualified college class. A conceptual framework consolidated by first hand experience can be well presented and accepted by the students. To explain various model of cognitive development, for example, one seasoned psychology professor illustrates each model with a specific child he had observed in a counseling center, which makes much easier for us to understand and memorize. What's more, the narrowed gap between theory and its application enables students to be aware of the potentiality and limitation of their familiar theory in life scenario. Thus they could be better prepared to embark on their profession.
Admittedly, the faculty can gain experience through working in relevant professions and benefit their students. Making it as a compulsory policy for all faculty across disciplines can be unrealistic considering the limited energy of professors and discipline characteristics. We are all familiar with the long existing debate about whether research or teaching should be prioritized. Professors are already pressured to excel in academic research, which requires immense amount of time and energy to produce. Also, they have to be careful that students would not accuse them of overlooking classroom teaching. Therefore, it would augment the already heavy burden of the faculty, especially those prominent professors, causing resistance and reluctance that can decrease the morale and even to the detriment of their academic excellence and quality of instruction. Again not all faculties should be required to work in relevant profession because some disciplines are less demanding in terms of first hand experience. Unlike vocation-oriented disciplines like medication and law, disciplines like philosophy and literature put less emphasis in terms of experiences and empirical knowledge. Plus, a relevant profession of philosophy is not so easily identified. The profession of philosophers is very likely to be read, observe, think and write or like Socrates, converse. Even if we assume there is a profession highly relevant with philosophy, the experiences and empirical knowledge from it might not be explicit and transferable. To conclude, working in a relevant profession is not the universal solution to every faculty regardless of their discipline and workload.
Higher education attaches great importance to experience outside academic world since its positive effects in enhancing teaching quality. Rather than obligating a relevant profession for all faculties, however, there are alternative ways to improve the quality of instruction being overlooked in this assertion. Giving students chances to explore and gain first-hand experience might work with higher efficiency and the quality of instruction will be accordingly improved.
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