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Editor:
Many students attend this university, accepting everything that our professors, faculty and teaching assistants tell us and lecture to them. Yet has anyone ever questioned what made these people qualified to teach us or who has "deemed" them able to do so? The majority of the people who teach these classes have not taken any classes to teach them how to teach the students, or at least this seems to be the case.
We require elementary and high school teachers to go to school to learn how to teach. They must be certified in their respective states in order to be allowed to teach any age. But we throw all of these standards out the door at the university level. It seems that at this university a doctorate, master's or bachelor's degree gives one the authority to teach in their "fields of expertise."
Students should question whether or not the person instructing their classes are qualified to teach them. Evidently from the classes I have attended, these instructors, under many circumstances, are not qualified to teach.
Professors and instructors should be required to learn about how people learn. Maybe they should think about the classes they have taken: In which classes did they learn the most? Why? Usually the reason people enjoy a class or do well in that class is because of the way their teachers presented the material or that the teachers cared that the students learned.
I am not an expert on teaching, but I know when a teacher is doing his or her job. I learn and I am not being told what to think; I understand and can apply the material to my chosen field of study or just everyday use. With today's technology and available resources, there is no excuse for students not to learn as a result of a teacher's indifference toward each individual's learning. Teaching is both art and science and before someone teaches me, I would prefer he or she knows something about it.
One solution may be to train prospective teachers upon hire before giving the free reign of the classroom. These people should learn techniques to enhance learning; it is as much the teacher's responsibility to teach as it is the student's to learn. Another solution would be to include the student in the process of hiring instructors. A student board could be assembled in order to assist in the interview process. After all, the students are by whom these instructors are ultimately employed. These instructors would not have jobs without students. We as students should not settle for less than what is expected of us.
Kimberly A. Nalette
management information systems junior
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