In “Message to my Freshman Students” by Keith Parsons, he addresses his upcoming first year students and specifically outlines his expectations for his “freshman” as their professor. According to Parsons, it has been “many years” since he has taught first year students which prompted his detailed speech on his perspective of freshman students and how he anticipates it will change. In Parsons blog post, there is a potent emphasis of the distinction between a ‘teacher’ versus a college ‘professor.’ The comparisons between the two are, in his opinion, crucial for first year students to comprehend the learning process. Parsons defines a teacher as one who is obligated to make sure a student learns as opposed to a professor who is paid regardless of whether a student retains the information or not. He accentuates the fact that teachers often direct their attention to standardized testing, whereas a professor does not have to report success rates on most (if not all) exams. According to Parsons it is his job to lecture, putting the responsibility solely on students to learn through “critical listening” while simultaneously adjusting to the transition to the new "country" as he describes.
Although I understand there are differences between a teacher and a professor, I concede his opinion that professors have no obligations other than to lecture and collect a paycheck. This mindset is not one that I view an educator in general should live by. As a first year student, I am aware that I have more accountability as far as what I do and do not learn. That being said, a professor, much like a teacher, is trained to guide students along the path towards an education. He boasts that “[He gets] paid the same whether you make an ‘F’ or an ‘A’” as if the only reason we choose to learn is for a grade. To many students and educators, the grade means nothing; the intent of an education is to learn something which you can apply to everyday life and situations. I, as a student, am supposed to walk away from each class knowing something I had not known previously. Many teachers and professors have told me through my lifetime that they chose their career for that purpose; money was not the deciding factor. While reading his article, I sensed that the journey to higher education was not why Parsons chose to be an educator. I say educator because I view that teachers and professors alike have a common goal: to educate today’s youth. Also to be noted: he specifically mentions that a teacher’s job is ‘to teach’, as if a professor does not have that same purpose. In his mind, "[A professor's] job is to lead you to the fountain of knowledge. Whether you drink deeply or only gargle is entirely up to you." His ideology is not only vain, but highly insulting to every teacher who has touched the lives of my generation prior to college. Someone had to instruct us to write, read, study, etc. Just on his skewed view alone, it makes me want to take a sip from his poor "fountain of knowledge" metaphor and spit out the water.
The split in the definitions come when differentiating how they teach. I recognize that a teacher is mainly concentrated on a student’s grades and test preparation as Parsons stated, however a teacher is still attempting to make the students learn something. Parsons simply glided over the fact that teachers are required to ‘teach’ in such a fashion by law; they would not teach for test preparation over critical skills if given the choice. A professor should be able to focus more on the application of knowledge rather than the test over it, because there are fewer laws restricting them. In order to do so, they have to teach something. While independent study and lecture is definitely a part of that, science has proven that teachers should have multiple forms of relaying information in order for students to learn and retain more information. According to "Learning Styles: Fact and Fiction – A Conference Report" by Derek Bruff (whose report was on researcher Linda Nilson), "People learn new material best when they encounter it multiple times and through multiple [teaching] modalities." Parsons can preach all he wants about the 'fountain of knowledge', but as an educator his intended goal can only be achieved if he is willing to give the information needed and not be so stuck in his "ancient academic culture" so a student has the capability to learn.
To address him in a fashion which he is most comfortable with, I address Parsons as follows:
Welcome to my blog! If you're going to do your job right, you need to take all your prior pretentious thoughts and let the fly out the window. Students and teachers everywhere will respect you much more if you actually acquire some humility in what you do.
To address him in a fashion which he is most comfortable with, I address Parsons as follows:
Welcome to my blog! If you're going to do your job right, you need to take all your prior pretentious thoughts and let the fly out the window. Students and teachers everywhere will respect you much more if you actually acquire some humility in what you do.