American university professor who says he believes in democractic education

[stevehein]

Here is what he writes about attendance in his classes:

Attendance is vital. More than two un-excused absences (few absences are excused) will likely result in failure or you will be dropped without notice. If you’re not here to discuss – to share with us your thoughts – you won’t be getting all that you could out of the class. More importantly, your absence (physically or mentally) deprives the other students in the class who rely on you to help foster an atmosphere of open exchange. We each need everyone else’s participation to make this a useful class, so no sleeping, extraneous talking, or reading during lecture and discussion. These activities will be considered absences. Repeated tardiness will lead to failure.

from https://sites.google.com/site/richgibsonswc/welcome/h


Here is the first part of his website:

I am an emeritis professor of Social Studies in the College of Education at San Diego State University. I believe the purpose of education is to build thoughtful action for social justice, that is, equality and democracy. I helped to found the Rouge Forum, K-12 and university school workers, parents, community people, and students, engaged in fighting for a democratic and egalitarian society.

Does anyone else see something wrong with this picture?

It is really painful to read this guy's stuff. Please don't go to a university. Get out of the system as fast as you can.

I was in a university administration building yesterday and started to be caught in the web of their bureaucracy. It felt like walking out of prison to leave and get back outside on the street. Universities look pretty much all the same around the world. I have been in many of them. They are strange places. Lifeless. Energy sucking. Brain damaging.

[brainiac3397]

It's a liberal dystopia up in there with the whole "forced open participation via attendance that can damage your grade is the best way to determine if you know the subject matter in a discussion forum".

Some profs are hard core about it, giving specific absences you can use regardless of whether it's legit or not, others might be swayed to lessen the impact if you connect with them(meeting with them and giving the name on the attendance list a face, thus making them less inclined to be willing to fail your ass), and others don't really give a crap as long as you come in for the tests(they're getting rarer).

Quote:build thoughtful action for social justice, that is, equality and democracy

And his solution is to force it upon folk. When I say "Josef" you say "Stalin"!

[SoulRiser]

He sounds pretty full of himself.

[TheCancer]

I was surprised to learn colleges even started taking attendance (in America). Back when I went to college it wasn't like that. I had classes with two grades a midterm and a final and I only showed up on those 2 days plus the first class where the prof told the schedule. College students are treated like babies now. But on the other hand they also act like babies.


One thing that guy writes is other students won't be able to benefit from your knowledge if you're not there. Lol. Who's job is it to teach the class? This type of education where you put everyone in discussion groups is complete lazy crap. Teachers who object to lecturing probably can't. Students aren't bored if you're skilled at putting the information forth in an interesting and dynamic way.

---

First he mandates attendance then he cries foul if his students ignore his lectures. How about making your lectures so good that your students CHOOSE to attend your classes and pay attention? If they're sleeping during your lecture there's a pretty good chance your lecture is boring.

[Ilija.m]

(10-02-2015 11:07 PM)stevehein Wrote:  Here is what he writes about attendance in his classes:

Attendance is vital. More than two un-excused absences (few absences are excused) will likely result in failure or you will be dropped without notice. If you’re not here to discuss – to share with us your thoughts – you won’t be getting all that you could out of the class. More importantly, your absence (physically or mentally) deprives the other students in the class who rely on you to help foster an atmosphere of open exchange. We each need everyone else’s participation to make this a useful class, so no sleeping, extraneous talking, or reading during lecture and discussion. These activities will be considered absences. Repeated tardiness will lead to failure.

from https://sites.google.com/site/richgibsonswc/welcome/h


Here is the first part of his website:

I am an emeritis professor of Social Studies in the College of Education at San Diego State University. I believe the purpose of education is to build thoughtful action for social justice, that is, equality and democracy. I helped to found the Rouge Forum, K-12 and university school workers, parents, community people, and students, engaged in fighting for a democratic and egalitarian society.

Does anyone else see something wrong with this picture?

It is really painful to read this guy's stuff. Please don't go to a university. Get out of the system as fast as you can.

I was in a university administration building yesterday and started to be caught in the web of their bureaucracy. It felt like walking out of prison to leave and get back outside on the street. Universities look pretty much all the same around the world. I have been in many of them. They are strange places. Lifeless. Energy sucking. Brain damaging.

It is not only just in the USA like this we also have the same problem here in Europe

[brainiac3397]

(10-03-2015 09:03 AM)TheCancer Wrote:  I was surprised to learn colleges even started taking attendance (in America). Back when I went to college it wasn't like that. I had classes with two grades a midterm and a final and I only showed up on those 2 days plus the first class where the prof told the schedule. College students are treated like babies now. But on the other hand they also act like babies.


One thing that guy writes is other students won't be able to benefit from your knowledge if you're not there. Lol. Who's job is it to teach the class? This type of education where you put everyone in discussion groups is complete lazy crap. Teachers who object to lecturing probably can't. Students aren't bored if you're skilled at putting the information forth in an interesting and dynamic way.

---

First he mandates attendance then he cries foul if his students ignore his lectures. How about making your lectures so good that your students CHOOSE to attend your classes and pay attention? If they're sleeping during your lecture there's a pretty good chance your lecture is boring.

I go to a smaller college so some classes are often a hybrid of lecture and discussion. Prof is doing lecture then throws out some questions to catch interest, if nobody says anything, they just move on.

This dude is naive as hell though. In many discussion classes I've seen, very few students actually participate at all. It'll always be a specific number of individuals actually contributing and this is from a small college with a class size often revolving around the 20s and 30s(avg is like 24-26. Not sure how the classes and class sizes are determined but it never goes far beyond the 30s).

Unfortunately a terrible issue is when it's college policy for there to be attendance. In my first semester, there was no college policy and thus it was up to professors(and this generally meant really lax rules). Now though, there's a college policy of like 2 unexcused absences(though some profs going around it but they're required to have some sort of policy rather than before when they could opt to not have at all).

[brainiac3397]

STEM will probably always require college. That or years of experience. People generally want certification of some sort to guarantee theyre getting an engineer who at least knows what theyre doing even if they suck at it (why youd spend years on something of this difficulty while knowing you suck is beyond me but...)

Otherwise as I frequently argue, college is not a pipeline to a career. It never should be (though naturally a college graduate will generally have more skills and said skills better honed than a non-gras in most cases) the primary reason. What you study shouldnt be dictated by what jib you want to do (unless its those specific fields that would require knowledge of to do said job). My interest in poli sci is purely academic. People think Im gonna get a poli sci job cuz Im studying poli sci. Im not. Im taking the reliable path of becoming a man of business (or entraprenuer these days). Its got all the freedoms I like, the limitless challenge, and the opportunity to see your hard labor manifest right in front of you (rather than serve as a cog contributing to a greater machine you have no sight or influence of)

My poli sci degree will just sit around and serve its purpose in academia when necessary(perhaps one day pursue a PhD once Ive established a stable business or ten...)

[no]

(10-03-2015 02:33 PM)brainiac3397 Wrote:  What you study shouldnt be dictated by what jib you want to do

I like cranes.

[brainiac3397]

Plz u know im talking about the forward sail of a ship!