Many years ago, when I was a
real Yankee as opposed to a damn Yankee, we Northerners looked down our noses
at Southerners. We understood that
people who lived below the Mason-Dixon line were ill-educated louts who could
barely count to ten.
Back then the quality of
southern schools was, in fact, far lower than that of their northern
counterparts. At both the K-12 and
college levels, what was demanded of students and learned by them did not
compare favorably with even their mediocre competitors.
But times change. Over the last several decades the New South
has become the engine of national development—which includes its academic
institutions. Thus, where the University
of Georgia was once a parochial backwater, today it is in the front rank of
state universities.
Meanwhile, Kennesaw State
University has over the course of fifty years grown from nothing into one of
the best regional universities in the land.
Starting as a tiny community college nestled in the Georgia pines, it is
today a favored destination for even international students.
Yet now, for some
unfathomable reason, many Georgia politicians want to turn the clock back. In the name of progress, they are proposing
to tear down what has been accomplished and replace it with high-tech
ignorance. Intoxicated with promises of
a brave new computerized world, they mean to substitute electronic dazzle for
genuine knowledge.
Let me explain. Currently on the fast track toward
implementation is something called the “e-core.” This is intended to allow lower division
students to take their first two years of college strictly on line and then
transfer to any University System of Georgia school for their junior year.
Standardized on-line courses
are to be taught, not by old-line professors, but curriculum specialists. Because the materials imparted are to be
homogenized, and simplified, all that will be needed to deliver them are the
equivalent of teacher’s assistants.
Why is this
problematic? Why are my objections
something more than sour grapes coming from a professor attempting to save his
job? The answer lies in the nature of
on-line teaching.
One of the things we have
learned about this medium is that it works best with well-prepared
students. Yet this is exactly what many
recent high school graduates are not.
Likely also intimidated by entering college, they are to be thrown into
the deep end of the pool, struggling, in isolation, to cope with unfamiliar
demands.
On the other hand, at
schools like KSU, younger students are allowed a period of orientation. They are initially introduced to the
studying, writing, and research skills that will be required of them as they
proceed into more arduous scholastic territory.
With this foundation under them, they are subsequently prepared to succeed.
But what of the e-core
learners who arrive on campus with an inferior preparation? When they fail, and they will fail in large
numbers, what will be the response? Will
the curriculum be further dumbed down to accommodate their needs? And if it is, will they later be prepared to
meet the needs of the modern economy?
The politicians want to save
money. They assume they can do this by
cutting back on brick and mortar institutions.
This, however, is penny wise and pound foolish. It saves a few dollars today only to ensure
than many more will be lost down the line.
This is why we at KSU are
adamant in our rejection of the e-core.
Our faculty and administrators are on record as nearly unanimously
rejecting this demonic innovation. This
may sound self-serving, but we believe in higher education and do not wish to
see it sacrificed on the alter of false economies.
So I have a modest
suggestion. If the politicians want to
return to the bad old days of southern parochialism, why don’t they just shut
down the state’s university system entirely?
This will save a lot of money in the short run. Come to think of it, closing down the high
schools would save much more.
Melvyn L. Fein, Ph.D.
Professor of Sociology
Kennesaw State University
No comments:
Post a Comment