[i习作temp] issue50 [复制链接]

yanii
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发表于 2010-7-9 11:05:01 |显示全部楼层

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: 429
TIME: 01:19:26
DATE: 2010-7-9 10:20:53

The speaker asserts that by working outside the academic world in professions relevant to their teaching courses, faculty can improve their quality of instruction. I find this assertion can hardly hold any water for it may actually disservice the quality.

To support the assertion, the speaker may point out that working outside the class broadens faculty's horizon of one subject, provides them an opportunity to put the theory into practice. With those experience, they can better understand the book knowledge, in a way they cannot otherwise, and thus enhance their authority in the field and come up better illustration when impart knowledge to students. At the same time, the process of practice can easily disclose the flaws in the one's interpretation of a theory, which may be instilled into the students without critical thinking and misguide them in their later life.

My contention with the point: is it necessary for faculty to step out of the academy to seek practice opportunity? There is always plentiful research group in college and university. Professions and their assistances work there to experiment their answers to a puzzled questions and confirm the validity of a particular proposition. In academy without the pressure to spare regular time for a new job otherwise, they can put their available time and energy to its fullest potential. Besides, many academies in the university have established close relationship with relevant companies. Receiving fund for further research, teachers help those businesses solve their pressingly practical problems and propose a new higher efficient design. At the same time, faculty can expand their horizon by overcoming difficulties encountered in practice and, in some case, let students in for better instruction of practice.

On the other side, with too much time engaged in out-academy jobs, faculty may shorten time spent on considering their instruction problems. As the old proverb goes, a man cannot split his heart on two things. It's no difficult to notice that some profession, busy with all kinds of lectures or their own career outside college, put little attention to instruct pupils. It's hard to imagine what the college will be if all faculty are concerned with their other jobs and release them form college work.

Furthermore, it would be hard-pressed for those majoring in abstract or most advanced subject, such as analytic mathematics, astrophysics and theoretical physics, to hunt for some practical jobs. Their work emphasizes the analysis of vast data, proposes a reasonable theory for given phenomenon and serve as tools or media for other subjects based on them to move forward. Yet there are few, if any, openings in the practical world for those faculty to take.

Weighting its benefits against demerits to require all faculty to take out-academy jobs, it can be easily find how ridiculous the recommendation is. More often than not, it may disservice the quality of instruction, which requires more time and energy to pay solely.