Issue50 by zephyrqq

zephyrqqUID: 2260290

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."
字数：407    650     用时：01:00:00   再延长38分钟       日期：2008-2-18 12:19:50

1.在与实际运用和技术联系紧密的学科，学术领域外的相关工作对教学是有帮助
2.与理论研究相联系的学科，找到相关工作很难，相关性不大的工作对教学的改进没有明显的好处。
3.教员过分迷恋校园外的工作可能会对教学产生坏处，在金钱驱使下被误导的教学外工作，甚至会危害社会。


As the rapid development of science and society, in some disciplines there is a ever-increasing gap between the theory taught in university and the practice in the relevant profession. Being worried about this tendency, some people advocate that all faculty should spend time in working outside the academia in profession relevant to the course they teach in order to enhance the instructing quality and solve this problem. However, we should think twice before send all the teachers to work outside campus is my opinion.

To begin with,  it is understandable that when it comes to the subjects which mainly focus on dealing with practical application and skills, a working experience in relevant field could benefit the teachers and students to some degree. Imagine what will happen if a professor who teach surgery in a medical college? Hardly can any of us believe it is possible for he or she tell the students how to properly operate on patients. Clearly, this case illustrate the point that in some applied realms, it is worthwhile for faculty to earn a considerable working experience. According to a recent survey conducted by the experts in sociology department of Manchester University, a increasing number of college students complain that the knowledge which their professors impart them in classroom could hardly apply to the practical work in society. Therefore, it seems that sending faculty to work besides teaching is not only a benefit but also a urgent necessity for a better instruction.

Nevertheless, when the situation is quite different in other subjects which busy engage in the research of theory, such as philosophy, mathematics and so forth. First, a professor like who teach logic in philosophy department would find it is extremely difficult for he or she to get a suitable job outside the circle of academy, and the same story would happen to those who teach quantum mechanics. Secondly, even if they can find a job in which them can employ part of their knowledge, whether these working experience could improving their teaching effect is open to doubt. The reason is that the relationship between their working practise and their teaching content might be to weak to be significant. What is more, these working burden might even divert  their time and energy from normal teaching activities and therefore it actually undermine the quality of their instructions.

Furthermore, it would be harmful if the work outside the academic world exert a excessive fascination on faculty. In fact, some faculty are willing to participate in relevant work even without the requirement of the university, not for enhancing their teaching level but for gaining an extra profit for themselves. There is no doubt that if they concern themselves to much on these kind of work, they would be likely to devote less to their students and care less about the outcomes of their teaching. What is worse, sometime the unlimited activities, motivated only by money, outside the academic domain even bring about some tragedies. For instance, a professor of a pharmaceutical college in our city arrested by the police last year. The reason is simple:  he was found to commit crime by producing drugs, which could cause physical dependence and psychological dependence,for illegal utility in his own laboratory. The lesson we can draw from this extreme example is that it is wise for us to realize that sometimes misguided work outside the academic fields might be detrimental to the faculty as well as whole society, let alone teaching improvement.

To sum up, in the academic disciplines dealing with practical application and skills, proper relevant work will help to benefit the instructions, while in other ones which concentrate mostly on theory,  this kind of advantage would not be so manifest. Before sending faculty to work outside campus, we should ponder whether there is a necessity to do so, aware the potential negative consequences and take measures to prevent them from occurring.



[ 本帖最后由 zephyrqq 于 2008-3-6 19:20 编辑 ]