Education or Job Creation?

From: conesetter (conesetter_at_btopenworld.com)
Date: 06/30/04 

Date: 29 Jun 2004 22:55:41 -0700

When students are to be examined on a topic it is the custom for them
to be offered lectures on it. It is taken for granted that this is the
right approach but one wonders if it is. I recall a conversation
between an undergraduate and a research student who advised him to
read a certain textbook and added "The lecturer won't give it you as a
reference because he gets his material from it." It must often be the
case that a lecturer is asked to lecture on a subject which is
marginal to his own interests and of which he has no detailed
knowledge. On the other hand a textbook can be assumed to have been
written by someone with above average knowledge and commitment.
  It is said that one only really learns a subject when one has to
teach it so very often the lectures must benefit the lecturer more
than the students.
  One good institution is the examples class where the students work
on a *** of examples while a staff member and a couple of research
students go round offering hints to anyone who gets stuck.

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