From DSC:
Reflecting on Survival Factor [from Inside Higher Ed by Kaustuv Basu]:
Let researchers research, and teachers teach — but not both. Teaching is an art as well as a science — and learning is messy. It takes a long time and a great deal of effort to become an effective professor (and more “hats” are being required all the time). On the flip side, there are skills required in research that may not be related to knowing how to be an effective professor.
The problem is — at least in many cases — that students are not served when researchers try to teach as well as do their research. These researchers were most likely recruited because of their ability to research — not due to their ability to teach. I realize that there could be a subset that can do both teaching and researching. But my experience at Northwestern was that the good researchers were not the effective teachers…and I’ll bet that’s still the case today. Why? Because there simply isn’t enough time and energy for most people to perform both roles well.
With the price of an education continuing to increase, is this a system we want to continue? Are these researchers trying to improve their teaching? Are they rewarded for their teaching efforts and growth? If not, are the students being served here? In any other industry, would this type of situation continue to exist?
As we move towards a more team-based approach to creating and delivering education, we may want to seriously consider breaking up the roles of researcher and professor — and doing so for good.
I don’t know if this is the case everywhere, but I have heard of cases where researchers who don’t teach are poorly compensated. I think research has at least equal social value to teaching. I also think researchers can still benefit from time spent with students – perhaps not in a classroom setting, if they are truly poorly equipped for that environment, but via internships or the like. In the classroom setting, we can consider the students the client of the teaching product and structure things for their benefit. In the research environment, the client of the product is not the student.
Thanks, Steph, for the comments and insights here. You bring up some good points. Research also plays a valuable role in our society and those people who are focused solely on research should be compensated fairly.
Your idea to put such folks “offline” in another environment (such as with internships, apprenticeships, etc.) is very interesting and certainly worthy of experimenting with that model.
I guess that’s what I’m really looking for here — more innovation, more experimentation within higher education — with a solid eye on the students. With prices continuing to escalate, they deserve the best possible products/services that we can offer them.
Thanks again Steph for your comments!
Daniel