No not that one.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denis_Rancourt
http://www.rabble.ca/news/dismissing...versity-ottawa
http://www.tvo.org/TVO/WebObjects/TV...90410_779472_0

Is this awesome? y/n

I like his idea, but I don't like how he handled the situation with the school he was teaching in. I think this should only be used for upper year courses, where you have to earn your way into them. Isn't this just like independent study courses? (sorry, I'm in first year)

really awesome. I have to bring up some important points I found interesting in the Rabble interview.

" With grades students learn to guess the professor's mind and to obey. It is a very sophisticated machinery, whereby the natural desire to learn, the intrinsic motivation to want to learn something because you are interested in the thing itself, is destroyed. Grades are the carrot and stick that shape obedient employees and that prepare students for the higher level indoctrinations of graduate and professional schools. The only way to develop independent thinking in the classroom is to give freedom, to break the power relationship by removing the instrument of power.

"Certification and ranking of students can be handled by employers. They can interview students, they can have entrance tests, that's not my concern. Education is my job and I have a professional responsibility to educate. I'm not going to compromise education because some employer on the outside wants me to rank students for them." - Professor Rancourt


His stance of critical pedagogy reflects my own beliefs about the importance of universities in their role as an educational institution and how that has changed over time. On the subject of universities as an institution for job-molding vs. really educating, I strongly believe that students should be at university to gain knowledge about the subjects that fascinate them. Yet, I cannot scream out "jobs are not important! Everyone's life goals should be to acquire knowledge about what you like the most." It is important to take into consideration the fact that society needs people to fill in job positions in order for the system to work. The cookie-cutter approach turns the wheels of society. It is too bad, but that's the way things are. We can only hope that the professors understand their role in educating the next generation of citizens to the best of their ability, and encourage us to question and challenge the dominate myths, social policies, and ideologies that we face.

Ahaha. One of my profs was talking about this to us a few weeks ago.

Watch the interview. Paikin was a bit of a meanie.

Originally Posted by Alvand

" With grades students learn to guess the professor's mind and to obey. It is a very sophisticated machinery, whereby the natural desire to learn, the intrinsic motivation to want to learn something because you are interested in the thing itself, is destroyed. Grades are the carrot and stick that shape obedient employees and that prepare students for the higher level indoctrinations of graduate and professional schools. The only way to develop independent thinking in the classroom is to give freedom, to break the power relationship by removing the instrument of power. "

This could not be more true. Perhaps the man's approach was not ideal and ended him in trouble, but I think his teaching ideals are fantastic.

In the four years I've been here, I've learned that grades have a fairly limited correlation to understanding and learning. There have been courses where I didn't understand a single thing and did very well, simply because I figured out what the prof wanted. Likewise, there have been courses where I understood the concepts involved very thoroughly, but because I didn't memorize this or that, I did poorly. I came here with a massive interest in the area of study I chose to pursue - I was actually excited to come and study, now I could care less. However, I have mastered the technique of milking as many marks as possible on an exam, while entering minimal effort!

There are many people in my program (engineering) who will leave here with excellent grades, but somehow I have the feeling they wont be able to solve a real life problem unless its neatly written down on an 8.5x11" piece of paper complete with blank space underneath, and identical in appearance to a question in a textbook. Afterall, that's what gets you good grades. Independent thinking? Creativity? Who needs that!