Help! Get me into the degree program that i want to be in!

[El Presidente]

Your back then!!

Sounds like the title to a GARY GLITTER song.

...and to make matters even better, I could be spending the summer lecturing in ......Tehran

 

[chip]

True, but it does not mean that they have to treat the students like dirt, yet many do so.

I'd agree with that, but say that some, rather than many, treat students like dirt. Some students treat academics like dirt as well though and do not appreciate what an opportunity they have.

In a typical week, I lecture to a total of 150+ students on two modules. If I set my standard for the least able my modules would not be worth taking. My role in teaching is to guide the students through the subject material and point out the interesting features and applications. It is up to them, in their own time, to find the depth of understanding that cannot be conveyed in a lecture. For example, in signal processing I use an example of how cranial implants can help neurosurgeons isolate the lobe(s) that are the centres of development of siezures in epileptics as this has been an area of my research - ask MYOB if that is worthwhile Moshe.

In real world problems, if we haven't already solved or understood them we don't know the solution a priori. At university, our brightest students are the ones who learn how to use their knowledge and skills to solve problems that they have not seen before. If they don't know something they know how to find it out. They are the ones who will find cures for cancer and diabetes, supply us with clean energy or give us greater understanding of the human condition. That is what good universities strive to achieve and not many people are capable of that. If you want a nice, touchy-feely don't upset anybody approach we will never advance our understanding or solve worthwhile problems - we will just perpetuate some bland mediocrity which is no good to any one.

 

[El Presidente]

I know where you are coming from Chip, but too many of the very best students are sadly lost to improving the world in which we live in and instead go to work for investment banks and are on six figure incomes within twelve months of graduating.

As a relative newcomer to academia I am shocked and stunned at the oneupmanship, snobbery, envy, paranoia and bitterness that exists within the profession.

But the holidays are good and so are the honeys, so I will be staying for the forseeable future.