The End of Being a Duke Professor and What It Means for the Future of Higher Ed
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Re: The End of Being a Duke Professor and What It Means for the Future of Higher Ed
#2We have a couple of generations that haven’t been exposed to the horrors of a dictatorship. History must repeat itself. In the meantime, Duke and other such institutions will loose their appeal to those with deep and independent curiosity and to the parents who guide their children down that path. History will not favor these institutions.
Re: The End of Being a Duke Professor and What It Means for the Future of Higher Ed
#3It seems like there’s a gap in the market for a hard-nosed, teaching-first university. A place full of passionate professors with high standards. A place where high school valedictorians work their ass off for a B. A place where you feel your best will never be good enough because the standards are impossible... until, one day, you get an A. And that grade MEANS something. And after four years, the students walk out into the wide world and kick ass up and down the street.
Somebody get $100M and start recruiting all these great professors academia can’t handle....
Re: The End of Being a Duke Professor and What It Means for the Future of Higher Ed
#4It seems like there’s a gap in the market for a hard-nosed, teaching-first university. A place full of passionate professors with high standards. A place where high school valedictorians work their ass off for a B. A place where you feel your best will never be good enough because the standards are impossible... until, one day, you get an A. And that grade MEANS something. And after four years, the students walk out…
I went to a top school and my observations in hindsight:
1. brilliant professors and peers were inspirational and encouraged ambitious and creative thinking
2. >90% of education is self-education
3. very little of what I learned in class prepared me for the real world and among my classmates there has been relatively little correlation between academic success and real world success
Re: The End of Being a Duke Professor and What It Means for the Future of Higher Ed
#5It seems like there’s a gap in the market for a hard-nosed, teaching-first university. A place full of passionate professors with high standards. A place where high school valedictorians work their ass off for a B. A place where you feel your best will never be good enough because the standards are impossible... until, one day, you get an A. And that grade MEANS something. And after four years, the students walk out…
I don't know how to say this without it sounding like a brag, but here goes anyway: this is University of Waterloo in a nutshell. I'm entering third year, studying math, and every single one of my friends has gone from high 90s in high school (multiple valedictorians) to struggling to keep an average in the 70s-80s range.
Anecdotally, one of my friends did a work term for the Dean of Science (and pure mathematics professor) at another university (which shall remain nameless) and she said the stuff we've been doing in first year isn't covered until 3rd/4th year at that school. Heck, her old high school AP calculus teacher couldn't do assignment 1 from our first year calc 1 course.
Re: The End of Being a Duke Professor and What It Means for the Future of Higher Ed
#6I believe HN has both right and left leaning individuals, but I wonder if most people would condemn the practice of professors being ousted from schools for daring to challenge their students' "safe space" notions and microagressing them?
This is not an isolated event and universities skew heavily in one direction politically. Is it universally agreeable that the end of healthy debate in college is a really, really bad thing?
Re: The End of Being a Duke Professor and What It Means for the Future of Higher Ed
#7I think there is something to the notion that there should be schools which are inclusive to students who would struggle under teachers like this.
I just don't see why that school should be Duke University. I don't understand why the most elite schools seem to be among the most likely to decide that their students need protection from harm. Polarizing teachers seem like they should be right in an elite universities wheelhouse.
Re: The End of Being a Duke Professor and What It Means for the Future of Higher Ed
#8I think there is something to the notion that there should be schools which are inclusive to students who would struggle under teachers like this. I just don't see why that school should be Duke University. I don't understand why the most elite schools seem to be among the most likely to decide that their students need protection from harm. Polarizing teachers seem like they should be right in an elite universities w…
If you struggle with a teacher who respectfully challenges your views, you don't belong at any college.
Re: The End of Being a Duke Professor and What It Means for the Future of Higher Ed
#9I believe HN has both right and left leaning individuals, but I wonder if most people would condemn the practice of professors being ousted from schools for daring to challenge their students' "safe space" notions and microagressing them? This is not an isolated event and universities skew heavily in one direction politically. Is it universally agreeable that the end of healthy debate in college is a really, really b…
It's been my belief that many people get offended by opposing viewpoints because their beliefs--while perhaps correct--weren't firmly grounded in much evidence. A well formulated counterpoint forces us to refine our argument (or abandon it), and most people just don't seem very interested in doing that.
Re: The End of Being a Duke Professor and What It Means for the Future of Higher Ed
#10This commentary is a subset of what is happening in the world. Free speech is not under attack as an alarmist might conclude, but is rather under review. Unfortunately , the review is being held and judged by mainstream media which tends to go the way that the author describes Sanford.
At the end of the day, our social norms will be pulled towards the most sensitive people rather than the intellectually challenging ones.