mardi, février 22, 2005
realizations
Today we had to hand in an assignment in my political analysis class where we identified the main actors, institutions and instruments involved in our respective policy areas. I've been struggling to come up with an angle on my chosen policy area of environment / Kyoto stuff. I've done a bunch of reading and researching, but I wasn't able to narrow down my focus much. Then I figured it out: I was BORED.
But as I read, I discovered another topic that actually appeals to me. It may sound less interesting, but for whatever reason, I'm more intrigued by the topic of democratic reform (for instance, changes to the electoral system) than Kyoto. So I've officially changed my research area to that. Now I just gotta come up with a hypothesis to work with...
Something else occurred to me today: the university system is ALL WRONG.
I say this because after seeing on a daily basis kids who are not interested in being in class, I finally understand: the kids don't want to be there, the teachers are not trained to teach (unfortunately this is all too apparent with some of them), and finally, a lot of the teachers also don't seem to care that much. What kind of system is this?
I admit that I, too, was one of those disinterested kids when I was 18-22 (although I was more likely to skip class than go and suffer through). But that's why I think going to university right out of high school is the wrong decision most of the time. The students would get more value and the teachers would get more reward if the students actually wanted to be there.
And maybe we could start training teachers at the university level how to teach, too. It's an odd thing, that we make people get an "education" diploma / degree before they teach grades 1 though 12, but all you need to teach at the university level is a Masters degree, in your field. The ability to teach does not come with subject mastery, people.
Today I swear about TEN students got up during Modern Government class to go to the bathroom or something - coming and going like it's a coffee shop, not a classroom, with a lecture in progress. This is a strange world, this university life... | ¶ 7:39 p.m.
But as I read, I discovered another topic that actually appeals to me. It may sound less interesting, but for whatever reason, I'm more intrigued by the topic of democratic reform (for instance, changes to the electoral system) than Kyoto. So I've officially changed my research area to that. Now I just gotta come up with a hypothesis to work with...
Something else occurred to me today: the university system is ALL WRONG.
I say this because after seeing on a daily basis kids who are not interested in being in class, I finally understand: the kids don't want to be there, the teachers are not trained to teach (unfortunately this is all too apparent with some of them), and finally, a lot of the teachers also don't seem to care that much. What kind of system is this?
I admit that I, too, was one of those disinterested kids when I was 18-22 (although I was more likely to skip class than go and suffer through). But that's why I think going to university right out of high school is the wrong decision most of the time. The students would get more value and the teachers would get more reward if the students actually wanted to be there.
And maybe we could start training teachers at the university level how to teach, too. It's an odd thing, that we make people get an "education" diploma / degree before they teach grades 1 though 12, but all you need to teach at the university level is a Masters degree, in your field. The ability to teach does not come with subject mastery, people.
Today I swear about TEN students got up during Modern Government class to go to the bathroom or something - coming and going like it's a coffee shop, not a classroom, with a lecture in progress. This is a strange world, this university life... | ¶ 7:39 p.m.
