There are many stereotypes in higher education that need to be revisited. Following a controversial piece in a leading international publication, Knowledge finds out some of the least favourite stereotypes
There are many issues that
need discussion in higher education. Some may refer to students, their skills and attitudes, and some to the system. However, the key drivers of any education system, the educators, are not an exception.
They are the prime matter of many ongoing discussions worldwide, some positive, some not so positive, but all generally looking to better the teacher- learning process and its outcome.
A few weeks back, the Washington Post published a controversial piece called alt39 Do College Professors Work Hard Enough?alt39 where writer David C Levy questions the facts about the teaching profession, comparing it to any other job.
He said that faculty members spend nine to 15 hours a week teaching, 30 weeks a year, and then get a long vacations during, summer, winter and the holidays. He argued that while this is appropriate for research universities, professors at teaching institutions do not deserve such cushy arrangements.
Even though it was by- and- large a UScentric piece, it brings forth may unanswered questions, some to the point of getting awkward. We asked a few stake holders of our higher education system about the work of the educators, and what according to them was their least favourite stereotype about academic work. Heres what we found out: ” The assumption that all alt39 teachingalt39 happens either in a lecture hall or a laboratory raises my ire. Some of our studentsalt39 most profitable pedagogical moments happen in conversations apart from the structured curriculum. Faculty and staff presence – mental, physical, and emotional at department events, or just stopping to chat in the corridor – transforms the student experience as powerfully as any lecture, lab demonstration, or seminar discussion, but these hours rarely count as valuable. No Indian university takes congnisance of this time, for university, no system takes it. We are still tied to and trying to wiggle out of the alt39 syllabusalt39 mentality, preparing for and acing the exams. No teaching happens beyond what the diktats of the exams are. That frustrates me too much.” – Pathik Shah, Guest lecturer for MBA ” I am annoyed by the stereotype that those of us in the arts and commerce streams donalt39t work as hard, or produce work as alt39 importantalt39 ( whatever we may mean by that), as those in engineering, maths, or the natural sciences. This is an irritant on a kind of mundane level – on the level of snide comments from scientist colleagues – but it trickles down to the way in which wealt39re funded. At a recent meeting about postdoctoral funding provided by the state, I commented that the money available to humanities scholars was considerably less than that for natural scientists. Not only was my annoyance greeted with amusement, but neither the college not the members were willing to engage with my views.” – Hetal Chothani, TYBA – Literature student ” The idea that learning and teaching can be rationalised, managed, quantified and controlled. The more governments, students and families alt39 investalt39 in education, the more we see pressure for accountability about alt39 resultsalt39. But as teaching and learning donalt39t just happen in the classroom during scheduled hours, it is hard to alt39 pin downalt39 how much time it takes to learn and exactly how it happens.
We also havenalt39t found a way to measure learning, so attempts at alt39 quality controlalt39 in education often do as much harm as good. Wealt39re trying to standardise something thats pretty idiosyncratic, and when we impose measures on the unmeasurable wealt39re also creating false expectations. So to see these assumptions reinforced on a regular basis in the media is incredibly frustrating.” – Jitixa Shah, Physics and Chemistry teacher ” The idea that the total number of hours we work can be quantified
