In “Message to My Freshman Students,” Keith M. Parsons writes an article explaining to college freshman the difference between high school and college. He states that, “First, I am your professor, not your teacher. There is a difference.” Parsons believes that a teacher's job is to make you learn, while a professor's job is to provide you with knowledge; it’s your job as a student to take in and learn the information being given to you. He also insists that lecturing is an “ancient” way of teaching in the academic world and shouldn’t be changed. He suggests that the high school should teach students how to listen instead of teaching them test-taking skills. Parsons says, "You need to learn to listen." He continues in saying that students need to learn the skill of critical listening, which he describes as a more complex form of listening "that questions and evaluates what is being said and seeks key concepts and unifying themes.” Parsons also claims that “when you go to a university, you are in sense, going to another country, one with a different culture and different values.” He also reminds us that citations are “sacred” and typically students don’t feel that they are as important as he does. He ends the blog by saying that the biggest difference between you and your professor is this, ”you see the university as a place where you get a credential. For your professors, a university is not primarily about credentialing. Your professor still harbors the traditional view that universities are about education.” Parsons concludes by stating that “a course is an opportunity for you to make your world richer and yourself stronger.” |
Do all college freshman fall under this stereotype?
While I believe that many of Parsons’ views are appropriate and fair, some of the things he said really threw me off a bit. I agree that college professors are very different from high school teachers; teachers get paid based on student performance while professors get paid regardless of whether students pass or fail. In college, it is your job as the student to learn. Furthering your education depends on you being willing to pay attention and work hard. Also, I do not deny that going to a university is like going to a different country. The way universities work is completely different from high school and I can see how many students could be unprepared for the culture shock. That is just part of growing up, sooner or later life is going to get harder, and you have to adapt and thrive from the change. |
However, I refute Parsons’ way of teaching. Lecturing, in my opinion, is not always the best way to share your knowledge of a subject. For one thing, everyone learns differently and falls somewhere along the line of being an auditory, kinesthetic, or visual learner. Lecturing is strictly auditory. As a kinesthetic learner, it is very hard fo"Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn." I’m not saying that lecturing should be completely thrown out the window; critical listening is an important skill that I hope to master by the end of my college career. I just question whether the lesson should be conveyed by 100% lecturing. r me to just sit back and listen to my professors go on and on about a subject that usually isn’t very interesting to me anyways. Personally, I need to engage in the content. At least give me some class discussion. Discussion would help everyone ask their questions and then they would be able to fully understand the content. Even Benjamin Franklin understood this by saying, |