UA rankings don't match experience

I believe that some discussion should be opened on the subject of last Tuesday's story, "Rankings affect UA in many ways." Upon reading it, I discovered some very surprising facts, for example:

"Our Mathematics Department is ranked fifth in the nation."

"The UA is ranked 16th in the nation in terms of academic reputation."

At this point, I had to stop and ask myself, is this the same math department where I sat in on no less than four separate sections of Math 254 in order to find a professor who was capable of both speaking clearly and imparting me with an understanding of the material? A friend of mine last year took English from a woman who was so recently moved from China that he could barely understand her! My last physics class was lectured by a professor who not once departed from a photocopied sheet of notes, speaking with all the feeling of my textbook.

Are these people who make up the rankings out of their minds? More probably, I would guess, it is that nebulous, but cool sounding, "Research I Institution" that leads the statisticians somewhat astray. It seems, amid all the accreditation and acclamation, that the UA is spending considerably more money and attention to its research than its undergrads. It seems the UA could place more of a focus on the quality of teaching at the undergraduate level, where basic concepts are focal, not research. Leave the nationally famous research for other departments on campus.

First, I had MSE 110 last semester; Professor C. is an excellent researcher and teacher, using the scientific conferences he attends to bring reality to students, instead of giving me the impression that those conferences are where he'd rather be. Then there is CSC 227. On our first day of class, our teacher pointed out to us that he was not a professor, not a researcher, but specifically, a lecturer, hired for the express purpose, not of extending the university's knowledge, but of extending the students' knowledge.

I'm tired of spending the first week of class 'shopping around' for a professor who will meet my needs, not those of the university.

By Steven Franks
Arizona Daily Wildcat
February 6, 1997