[rant]Contact Hour Billing

[Nicodemus Phaulkon]

...at the Post-secondary level is, they were never trained to be "teachers".

When you've come from the examples in the public school system where teachers are specifically trained to be teachers and have a modicum of understanding on how to use various techniques, approaches, methodologies and resources... and then jump into the deep-end of the abyss of University Professors, the culture shock is legendary. These people don't give a hoot if you live or die, pass or fail, come or go. What's more, most of them generally have no idea on how to actually present or instruct their material. After all, they're experts in their field, not experts in the education of their field. It is their job to publish their research and then, typically, instruct with their very same publication (which, as the "required text" of their courses, further promotes the sale of said publication). Never-mind that said publication can be the most obnoxious collective of driveling snot ever set to text, it will be your primary means of understanding of your education in the chosen subject; that other text that's far more erudite and benefiting from brevity and straightforwardness isn't allowed... because it's not published on THIS campus. Can someone scream "Conflict of Interest" for me please? Thank you.

I'm reminded of historical commentary toward J.R.R. Tolkien. Who among us wouldn't appreciate the chance to actually attend one of his classes at Oxford circa 1950? The problem: Tolkien was known as a god-awful instructor who mumbled incoherently during the majority of his teaching attempts. A great mind, a rare talent... and a pitiful excuse for a "teacher".

Are there poor teachers in the grade-school level of education? Of course there are. But even the worst of them graduated with an Education degree, with all of the fundamental background and instruction in "instruction" that the degree entails. People who would like to read my opinion of the "Teach for America" program can now skip to the bottom of this post.

That Math Professor that we keep referring to (usually with a language barrier)? He knows his mathematics, of course. He's also a boon to the University for his abilities versus the other Mathematicians that populate the campuses world-wide. The fact that he's stuck for an answer when you say "Hi" is completely beside the point, don'tchaknow.

Of course, the preceding was based on my observations and discussions with various university students during my own time as a student in Canada. At no point could this hold up in discussion with university-reality in America or elsewhere. After all, it seems that in America they'll throw anyone with a degree and a C grade into a primary-scholastic environment and call them "teacher": Teach For America. Now, the stop-gap measure of having "experts" without a clue on HOW to instruct is reaching deeper into the education system down to our children. Which is all very nice, considering that the main reason most of these journalism and pre-law students would opt for such a path is because of the inroads and financial credits that it provides into their chosen graduate school.

A "teacher" is more than instruction, more than information and more than presentation. There is a heart and soul and drive that has to exist to weather the difficulties that are inherent in trying to reach across years, culture, society and language to reach a child's understanding. Teachers are teachers by choice, not by desperation, financial-boon or graduate school brownie points.

Instructors are as common as dirt. A teacher is a rare thing, indeed.