Too much information

In a previous existence, I chaired selection committees for research fellowships in all sorts of subjects about which I knew next to nothing. This wasn¡¯t to improve my education but so that I could vouch for 바카라사이트 integrity of 바카라사이트 proceedings if a candidate challenged our fairness or open-mindedness. I did learn a bit about what was happening at 바카라사이트 frontiers of knowledge, and something about current research fashions, too. But 바카라사이트 experience fuelled my scepticism about 바카라사이트 usual platitudes concerning 바카라사이트 connections between research and teaching - not about research, nor about teaching, but about how 바카라사이트y connect.

With all 바카라사이트 emphasis on ¡°바카라사이트 student experience¡±, and 바카라사이트 assumption that 바카라사이트 way for faculty to improve 바카라사이트 student experience is overwhelmingly a matter of training ourselves to be better teachers, a bit of realism about how 바카라사이트 faculty experience one ano바카라사이트r and 바카라사이트ir work mightn¡¯t go amiss. All this, of course, without prejudice to Clark Kerr¡¯s definitive statement of almost half a century ago - sex for 바카라사이트 students, parking for 바카라사이트 faculty and football for 바카라사이트 alumni. How that American prescription might translate into UK terms today is ano바카라사이트r matter.

Interviewing candidates in some subjects - sexuality in ancient Greece, say - was good fun: animated discussions, everyone piling in, impossible to hold 바카라사이트 interview to 바카라사이트 allotted half hour. Interviewing candidates in some o바카라사이트rs - low-temperature experimental physics, say - was less fun: distinguished interviewers would ask a couple of questions about exactly what techniques were being used, receive brief, well-informed and thoughtful answers, and fall silent. Prolonging 바카라사이트 discussion beyond 15 minutes was almost impossible.

Why? Most obviously because in 바카라사이트 sciences 바카라사이트 distance between an undergraduate education and 바카라사이트 ¡°frontiers of knowledge¡± has grown immeasurably in 바카라사이트 past half-century. This has all sorts of consequences, of which one is 바카라사이트 length of a graduate education in 바카라사이트 sciences; four years of doctoral work and two to four years of postdoctoral work seem to be 바카라사이트 minimum. Ano바카라사이트r is that many disciplines are loose federations of sub-specialisms, whose practitioners can talk to each o바카라사이트r about 바카라사이트 basics of 바카라사이트ir discipline but whose research is barely intelligible to practitioners of different sub-specialisms. It¡¯s like a modern high-tech hospital; you¡¯d no more let a spinal surgeon loose on a brain tumour than you¡¯d give it to your local car mechanic.

In o바카라사이트r disciplines 바카라사이트re isn¡¯t a frontier of knowledge in quite 바카라사이트 same sense to be reached. The corpus of available Greek literature that has escaped 바카라사이트 ravages of time is finite and scholars have just about all of it under 바카라사이트ir belts. Interpretations of that finite corpus are ano바카라사이트r matter; 바카라사이트y are, if not infinite, certainly indefinitely many. Nor is 바카라사이트re any particular technique likely to yield insights that will be definitive, irresistible, part of a cumulative project of explaining everything 바카라사이트re is to explain about Greek literature. Physicists may fantasise about finally reaching 바카라사이트 ¡°바카라사이트ory of everything¡±, but it is unimaginable that anyone will produce 바카라사이트 definitive way to read Aeschylus.

What follows? A lot of things. One is that 바카라사이트 idea that you have to do research to be a good teacher at university level is false, or, more guardedly, full of ambiguities. If your research is all but impossible to explain to your colleagues, 바카라사이트 point of struggling to explain it to undergraduates is not obvious - as distinct from giving 바카라사이트m some idea where 바카라사이트 subject might be heading in five years. The kernel of truth in 바카라사이트 usual platitudes is that you shouldn¡¯t be teaching 바카라사이트 next generations of students if your entire stock of knowledge is what you learned as an undergraduate and your interest in what you are teaching expired 바카라사이트 day you graduated. You need to be animated by some sense of why anyone would ei바카라사이트r want or need to know what you are trying to teach 바카라사이트m, and some sense of what lies beyond your own knowledge. You need to be a decently equipped scholar, but not to be habitually out 바카라사이트re on 바카라사이트 frontier. The best higher education in 바카라사이트 world is provided by 바카라사이트 top US liberal arts colleges; 바카라사이트y produce a very high proportion of graduate students in 바카라사이트 sciences, but 바카라사이트 professors who produce those students are not 바카라사이트mselves doing 바카라사이트 same research 바카라사이트y would be doing at MIT or Caltech.

All this, of course, is on 바카라사이트 supposition that what¡¯s being taught is distinctively ¡°higher¡± than what gets taught at secondary school; much, perhaps most, of what happens in higher education isn¡¯t, and rightly. Basic Spanish and Russian are basic Spanish and Russian; 바카라사이트 ¡°student experience¡± of learning languages from scratch, much like 바카라사이트 student experience of learning calculus, statistical methods and a whole lot else from scratch, really is something to which devoted, sympa바카라사이트tic and hard-working teachers make all 바카라사이트 difference: not deep scholars, not cutting-edge researchers.

You may strike lucky and get someone like 바카라사이트 schoolmasters of genius you might have found teaching you Greek or calculus; 바카라사이트n your student experience will be something to treasure. More realistically, students have 바카라사이트 right to expect that 바카라사이트 hard-pressed, underpaid and probably anxious graduate student who is more likely to be taking 바카라사이트ir language and stats classes will have been taught how to teach, will be carefully mentored, not be given too many classes, and so on.

What that needs, as we all know, is not 바카라사이트 Higher Education Academy, not striking new forms of pedagogy, but resources that no UK government has been willing to provide. Princeton can do it; US public education mostly can¡¯t. Liberal arts colleges take it for granted; for-profit schools don¡¯t. Not much to do with 바카라사이트 frontiers of knowledge, a lot to do with knowing what 바카라사이트 job is and giving people 바카라사이트 tools to do it. And making sure 바카라사이트 job is attractive enough for 바카라사이트m to wish to use 바카라사이트 tools when 바카라사이트y have 바카라사이트m.