Science
Related: About this forumA North Carolina education bill would be a disaster for research and pedagogy.
In higher-ed parlance the herculean act of teaching eight courses per year is whats known as a 4-4 load or, alternatively, a metric ass-ton of classroom time. And yet a new bill currently under consideration in the North Carolina General Assembly would require every professor in the states public university system to do just that. The results would be catastrophic for North Carolinas major research universities. The region known as the Research TriangleRaleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill, so named because of the three Research-Ilevel universities that anchor itwould quickly lose two of its prongsthe University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and North Carolina State Universitywere this bill to pass. And it just might.
According to the official press release from its sponsor, Republican state Sen. Tom McInnis, Senate Bill 593called Improve Professor Quality/UNC Systemwould ensure that students attending UNC system schools actually have professors, rather than student assistants, teaching their classes. Another result would be more courses taught by fewer professors. But that shouldnt matter, according to Jay Schalin of North Carolinas Pope Center for Higher Education Policy, who recently explained to the Daily Tar Heel that the university system is not a jobs program for academics. What the bills supporters either fail to realizeor, more likely, realize with utter gleeis that this bill actually has nothing to do with professor quality and everything to do with destroying public education and research. Forcing everyone into a 4-4 minimum (so ideally an excruciating 5-5, I guess?) is a solution that could only be proposed by someone who either doesnt know how research works or hates it. Its like saying: Hey, Ill fix this car by treating it like a microwave.
Teaching college, especially if youre good at it, isnt particularly hard. But it does take timeand those 75 minutes in the classroom are the least of it. There are the office hours (which most students eschew for for professor as 24-hour email concierge); theres the prep (anywhere from two to 10 hours for one class meeting); and then, of course, there are the hours upon hoursupon godforsaken hoursof grading. Four (or five!) courses, even with the shortcuts afforded by a teaching assistant here and there (which most people dont get), are a full-time job in and of themselves.
A course load that high leaves little if any time for serious research: You know, trivial stuff like professor David Margolis team investigating potentially lifesaving HIV drugs; professor David Neil Hayes work on cancer genomics; and professor Bruce Cairns leadership of one of the only burn centers in North Carolina. These folks may also be spectacular pedagogues, but they were not hired to teach. And honestly I dont care how good of a teacher someone is if he saves the life of my burned childand neither, I am betting, do you. (These all happen to be professors of medicine, but SB 593 makes no provisions about professional or graduate schools. Its text quite clearly says all professors. I learned attention to detail and reading comprehension in college, from professors who had reasonable course loads.)
more
http://www.slate.com/articles/life/education/2015/04/north_carolina_education_bill_it_would_require_public_university_professors.html
BlueJazz
(25,348 posts)I think not.
What might come out of this bill is a few professors being lured away to other states/research facilities.
If I were a professor, I would have to ask myself..."Do I want to work myself to an early grave and still not accomplish the goals "Of my heart??"
Again..I think not
n2doc
(47,953 posts)If this bill were to be enacted (and I don't think that will happen), the "research 1" universities like UNC-Chapel Hill and NC State would rapidly lose every talented researcher they have. No one can maintain a significant research program under that load. The only ones who would be left would be those who have tenure but either can't or won't move, and junior faculty who are desperate for a job. Funding from NSF, NIH and other agencies would dry up, costing tens of millions to the Universities and the state.
I don't think they will want to destroy the great Universities that they have, although clearly the lunatics are at the door.
valerief
(53,235 posts)you keep 'em as slaves.
hollysmom
(5,946 posts)So many of their schools and universities were lauded. Now that it is red is seems to be hell bent on destroying all education n the state. How can people not see this? Are they so susceptible to the PAC advertising, that they have not time to look up or hear the facts?
postulater
(5,075 posts)A major disaster headed our way.