whole new appreciation for the teaching

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

________________________________________
From: Tom Yates [tom () yates me uk]
Sent: Tuesday, July 08, 2008 9:09 AM
To: David Farber
Subject: Re: [IP] whether prices are excessive.

Prof. Farber:

(for IP if you deem it appropriate)

Following this discussion has given me a whole new appreciation for the
teaching I got at Imperial College, London, where I did my undergraduate
physics work (1985-88).

Although reading lists were often produced by the lecturers, they were
suggestions for further investigation rather than any kind of requirement.
It was an oft-acknowledged rule that nothing could be examined that wasn't
taught; the lecturers actually wrote up, on the board, by hand, everything
you needed to know to be a graduate physicist.  All the student had to do
was write down, learn and understand it (this last being the trickier and
most important part, of course).

I stayed on at Imperial to do a PhD, and came to know some of my former
undergrad lecturers well enough to realise that those of them who had
earned teaching awards from the students were truly, genuinely proud of
them.  By and large, teaching was seen as an important part of the job,
something that needed to be done, and done well, by academic staff at
every level of the institution.

I don't know if things are still that way; I hope they are.  But until
this discussion on textbook sales, I don't think I'd properly realised how
odd it is to have earned a first-class physics degree from a world-class
institution, and bought only one textbook - which I *still* haven't read.


--

     Tom Yates  -  tom () yates me uk




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