🚀 go-pugleaf

ALPERT ETHAN (alpert@alumni.cs.colorado.edu) wrote:
: CU perpatuates these defects by not taking enough time to assure that people 
: who pass the basic math modules actually understand the material. There is
: simply not enough supervision of students by people whose vested interest
: is in making sure they learn the basics. Instead tutors keep quiet and
: collect a lot of money. 
: [...]
: Unfortunately the CU math modules attract the less knowledgeable students,
: the students  that are scared of math, the students that know they can
: pay a tutor and get by with out investing the time needed to really learn
: what they're required to .
: [...]
: At this point I'm wondering why no one from CU has responded to this thread.
: It makes me wonder if they even give a $%#@. They proabably sit arround and
: point their fingers at the high schools that failed to teach adaquately or
: more likely they'd rather ignore the problem because they know they need to
: spend more time working with students and less time in their ivory towers. 

Ethan - while you do have some valid points, it seems to me that you're
missing another side of the story.

You can't force knowledge into someone's head.  If they don't want to
learn the material, they're not going to.  It might be better to approach
a discussion of the CU math modules from a different perspective:
   Can a student who *wants* to learn the material acquire the
   necessary skills from the CU math modules?
This seems to me to be a more important question.

I realize that we do have students receiving passing grades in courses
when they don't have a good understanding of the material, and to some
extent this might be considered to dilute the value of a CU diploma.
However, I think a better strategy would be to (first) ensure that motivated
students will receive whatever help it takes for them to learn the
material, and (second) try to come up with ways to motivate those students
who aren't applying themselves.

Trying to make sure that no one can possibly escape from our sacred
institution without a good understanding of [insert your favourite
topic here] is an admirable goal, but I think the cost/benefit ratio
of such a task is too high.  Instead, let's concentrate on helping
students learn, and find fault with professors or courses when we see
students coming out saying "well, I *wanted* to learn the material, I
studied my ass off to learn the material, but when I needed help the SOB
ignored me!"

Disclaimers: while I'm technically "faculty" here at CU, I don't teach.
I'm basing my opinions on my experiences as a student here, not as a
member of the faculty.  I haven't ever taken any of the math modules,
or even talked to someone who took them, so I can't say if I think they're
meeting the above goals or not.

                       -Robert Tarrall.-
                       Unix System/Network Admin
                       Laboratory for Computational Dynamics
                       CU - Boulder