Wilczynski, E. J. Appointments in College and Universities. Science, February 28, 1909; Vol. 29, pages 336ff.
Wolfe, A. B. The Graduate School, Faculty Responsibility, and the Training of University Teachers. School and Society, September 16, 1916.
The investigator of educational practices and methods of teaching is impressed with an unmistakable educational anti-climax, for the conviction grows on him that elementary school teaching is on a relatively high plane, that secondary school teaching is not as effective, and that collegiate teaching, with rare exceptions, is ineffective and in urgent need of reform. A superficial survey of educational literature of the last ten years shows that while the problem of the high school is now receiving earnest attention, elementary education continues to absorb the earnest efforts of an army of vitally interested investigators. The field of college pedagogics is still virgin soil, and no significant or extensive program for improved methods of teaching has yet been advanced.
Three earnest and intelligent students representing three colleges of undisputed standing were asked informally about their instructors for the current semester. Nothing was said to make these students aware that their judgment would hold any significance beyond the friendly conversation. The summary of opinions is offered, not because the investigation is complete and affords a basis for scientific conclusion, but because it reflects typical college teaching in three recognized institutions of more than average standing.
| Student No. I | Student No. II | Student No. III |
| Teacher A: A popular and interesting teacher. talks
enthusiastically, but talks all the time. Lessons assigned are not
heard.Students seldom recite. Written quizzes on themes of assigned
reading are rated by an assistant. The work comes back with an A, a C,
or a D, but we do not know why the rating was given. Frequently two
students who worked together are marked B and D respectively for the
same work. Sometimes a student who "cribbed" his outline from another
who actually "worked it up" receives a higher mark than was given for
the original. | Teacher A: A good teacher of mathematics. He assigns a new
lesson for home study. The next day he asks questions on the lesson. The
answers are written out on the blackboards. After fifteen minutes all
students take their seats and the work on the blackboard is taken up for
explanation. He explains every difficulty very clearly. We rarely cover
the lesson. Some topics go unexplained because during the next hour the
blackboard problems are based on the lesson. If I understood the second
half of each lesson as clearly as the first, I would feel hopeful of a
good grade in the final examination. | Teacher A: A very popular teacher of English. If the final
examination is given by another teacher, I may not have enough specific
facts to pass. We began Chaucer last week. He spent a good part of each
session reading to us. All of us were surprised to find how much more the
text meant than after our own reading. In the last session we went to our
book on literature and tried to justify the characterization which the
author gives of Chaucer. The class agreed with all in the book except in
one characterization. In the composition work we took up the structure of
short narratives.The assignment was to find narratives in current
periodicals, in the writings of standard authors, in newspapers, and
then attempt to find whether the structure we studied was followed. In
each case we had to justify any departure from the standard. There was
little time for the footnotes in Chaucer. I hope we are not asked for
these on the final examination. |
| Teacher B: Rather an interesting teacher; assigns lessons from a
book. At the beginning of the hour he asks questions on the text but is
soon carried away and rambles along for the period, touching on every
subject. We never complete a chapter or topic. The succeeding hour we
take the next chapter, which meets the same fate. Written tests determine
the students' rank. The grade for the written test is announced, but the
papers are not returned and one never knows why the papers were rated C or D. | Teacher B: A dry course in Art History and Appreciation. We take up
the history of architecture, painting,and sculpture. The names of the best
artists are mentioned, and their many works confuse us. We memorize
Praxiteles, Phidias, Myron, the ancient cairns, the parts of an Egyptian
temple. Pictures are shown on the screen. I elected this course in the
hope that it would teach me something about pictures, how to judge them and
give me standards of beauty, etc., but it has been history and not
appreciation so far. We do not see any beauty in the pictures of old
madonnas. Even the religious ones among us say this. | Teacher B: A very conscientious teacher of chemistry. He gives us a
ten-minute written quiz each hour on the work in the book or on the matter
discussed in the last lecture. The rest of the hour is spent in explanation
of difficult points and in the application of what we learned of industry
and physiology. It is surprising to see the interest the class shows in the
chemical explanations of things we never noticed before. |
| Teacher C: A conscientious teacher in physics. He assigns a definite
lesson for each recitation of the term. At the beginning of the hour students
go to the board to write out answers to questions on the lesson. The hour is
spent listening to the recitation of each student and the explanation of
difficult points. We never cover more than one half of the lesson: sometimes
only one third. The next hour the questions are on the new lesson, not on the
incompleted portion of the former lesson. My knowledge of physics is
punctuated by areas of ignorance. These alternate with topics that I think I
understand clearly. | Teacher C: A good, clear, effective lecturer in chemistry. Every
lesson we learn a definite principle and its application. The laboratory work
of each week is related to the lecture and throws interesting side lights on
it. We have quiz sections once a week. Here the work is oral and written. | Teacher C: A scholarly instructor in history. He assigns thirty to forty
pages in English History, and then he lectures to us about the topics discussed
by the author. He points out errors in dates and places. Occasionally he calls
on a student. At the end of each month he gives a written test. We remember little
of what we learned and must "bone away" at about 200 to 300 pages. His English is
delightful and we enjoy listening at times, but I seem to retain so little. "Yes,
half the term is up. We are beginning the reign of Henry VII." |
| Teacher D: A quiet, modest man. Sits back comfortably in his seat and asks
questions on assigned texts. The questions review the text, and he explains in
further detail the facts in the book. The conscientious and capable student finds
him superfluous; the indifferent student remains unmoved by his phlegmatic
presentation; the poor student finds him a help; the shirk who listens and takes
notes is saved studying at home. | Teacher D: A very strict teacher of English literature. He assigns text
for study, and we must be prepared for detailed questions on each of the great
writers. He is very strict and detailed. We had to know all the fifteen qualities
of Macaulay's style. "No, we did not read Macaulay this term: we study from a
history of English literature that tells us all about the master writers." | Teacher D: A very enthusiastic lecturer in economics. He explains the
important principles in economics. We follow in a printed syllabus, so that
it is unnecessary to take notes. He talks well and makes things clear. We are
given assignments in S----'s "Elements of Economics," on which we are questioned
by another teacher. "Is the work in the quiz section related directly to the
lectures? Sometimes. No, we do not take current economic problems. These are given
in a later elective course." |
| Teacher E: A good teacher of Latin. He explains the work, hears the lessons,
gives drills, calls on almost everybody every hour. The written work is returned
properly corrected and rated. | Teacher E: A quiet, dignified gentleman who teaches us psychology. A
chapter is assigned in the book, and the hour is spent hearing students recite
on the text. He sticks closely to the book. He explains clearly when the book
is not clear or not specific enough. The hours drag, for the book is good and
those who studied the lessons weary at what seems to us needless repetition. | Teacher E: An instructor in psychology. His hours are weary and dreary. A
chapter is assigned in X's "Elements of Psychology." He asks a question or two
and then repeats what the author tells us, even using the illustrations and diagrams
found in the text. Sometimes a student reads a paper which he prepared. "No, we do not
get very much out of these papers read by students. But then we get just as little
from the instructor. No, we never apply the psychology to our own thinking nor to
teaching nor to the behavior of children or adults." |
| Teacher F: One cannot pass judgment on this teacher of mechanical drawing. He
gives out a a problem, works a type on the board, and then distributes the plates. We
draw. He helps us when we ask for aid, otherwise he walks about the room. I suppose one
cannot show teaching ability in such a subject. | Teacher F: A learned Latin scholar who is very is very enthusiastic
about his specialty. The The students exhibit cheerful tolerance. He assigns a
given number of lines per day. These we prepare at home. In class we give a
translation in English that has distorted phrases and clauses lest we be accused
of dishonesty in preparation. The rest of the time is spent on questions of syntax,
references, footnotes, and the identification of the of the real and mythological
characters in the text. The teacher is animated and effective. | Teacher F: A forbidding but very strict Latin teacher. His questions are fast
and numerous and the hesitating student is lost. He assigns at least twenty-five per
cent more per lesson than any other instructor. The hour is spent in translating,
parsing, and quizzing on historical and mythological allusions. Every "pony" user is
soon caught, because he is asked so many questions on each sentence. There is a
distinct relief when the hour is over because he is constantly at you. "Will I take
the next course in Latin? Not unless I must. This is prescribed work. It can't end too
soon for me, nor for the others in the class." |