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February 22, 2006
School Email.
It’s been too long since I last posted. I get that. Sorry gang. But I do have some thoughts...
This Article on Student/Teacher Emailing is not really about Email. Rather, it is about “deference”. See, some professors want to be seen as nearly divine beings brought forth from the heavens to study abstract ideas and let students be near them...
One such instructor is UC Davis’ own Jennifer Schultens. It seems that an unfortunate student asked Dr. Schultens her opinion on what sort of organizational system to use. Dr. Schultens decided that the most appropriate response would be silence...
Was the student’s query inappropriate? Absolutely. But the instructor has a duty to help instruct students in a myriad of subjects—including proper decorum. An instructor can not only give information directly, but also help students by teaching them how to learn. Dr. Schultens failed in her most basic duty...
The broader issue is that Teachers and Students are involved in radically different experiences. At the University level, a Professor is paid to do research, a poor teacher who does research which reflects well on her University will not be punished for their inability to transmit information to Students. Students are tangential to the processes...
The thing is, Students don’t see themselves as tangential, we see ourselves as the center of the University. And so when you get a collision of these two colossal sets of egos-- 18 year old freshman and thirty something assistant professors—each seeing themselves as the center of the universe, each side can come across to the other as rude...
Two Aggies wronged each other in this exchange. Only one got a spot on the New York Times. Fortunately she managed to convey her own inexperience and unfitness in her own words...
Posted by Andrew at February 22, 2006 02:17 AM
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Comments
In some ways, I can understand the professors' frustration with the emails. None of us would want to plow through a dozen emails of nonsense. There is something to be said for the simplicity of communication email affords, however, and allowing for easy access to professors is nice. When I was in college, I often found it much easier to contact professors via email, since other classes often conflicted with their office hours.
I do think that this sort of thing is what makes community colleges superior to Universities. Universities, with their focus on research, make the student experience less of a priority, while community colleges tend to be more geared toward the students. I've heard more than one person claim that they received better education in a community college than a University.
Posted by: Afaeyre Maede at February 23, 2006 12:43 PM