(Worst) Quote of the day on higher education

Data diggers hope to improve an education system in which professors often fly blind. That's a particular problem in introductory-level courses, says Carol A. Twigg, president of the National Center for Academic Transformation. "The typical class, the professor rattles on in front of the class," she says. "They give a midterm exam. Half the kids fail. Half the kids drop out. And they have no idea what's going on with their students."

Seriously?

If this is the best from the president of an "organization that provides leadership in using information technology to redesign learning environments to produce better learning outcomes for students at a reduced cost to the institution," then there doesn't seem to be any difference between this outfit and Faux News in the use of hyperbole!

At a simple level, if half the kids fail, and half drop out, then it means there is zero pass, correct?  Surely, that is not what Twigg is suggesting, is she?

At the next level, we are not talking about "kids."  Except the rare ultra-smart student, those entering college are adults. Yes, adults, not kids.

At the content level, it is remarkably stupid to use a blanket characterization that professors do nothing but rattling in a typical class.  Yes, there are those professors.  But, come on, colleges and universities are a lot more than those professors.  Students in my classes often complain that I don't rattle enough, because I make them do a lot of work!

To shoot off that professors "have no idea what's going on with their students" is yet another hyperbole.  Not in my classes, where students know all too well how they can not easily escape my attention--through my eyes and ears, and then through emails and webpages!  Even most of our four-person department meetings are about discussing how our students are progressing (or not.)

I suppose the problem is this: most commentators think only about the large research universities when they talk about transforming higher education.  They often want to zoom into the mega-sized likes of Arizona State or Ohio State.  They conveniently forget that the total number of students at community colleges and teaching universities vastly outnumber those at the super-sized U.

In fact, it could very well be the case that the super-sizing of universities is one of the biggest problems that could have generated many other issues in higher education.  The super-sizing led to auditorium-lectures with a couple of hundred students in attendance, where the professor merely "rattles" on.  This then becomes a convenient arrangement for those students who prefer to engage in anything other than studying while at college.  Any surprise then that Arizona State has always had a reputation of being one of the best party schools?

Now, it doesn't mean that all is well at regular (small) sized institutions like the one where I teach.  There is a great deal that is screwed up, and I have often blogged about them.  But, hyperbole is not the way to address re-thinking.

Speaking of my own workplace, I am reminded of a faculty colleague, who, perhaps does a great deal of rattling in the hallways and at meetings!  In complaining about the use of technology in the classrooms, he wrote in an email a few years ago:

It is not that I want to sound like Scrooge with a Bah! Humbug! remark, but everytime one more classroom becomes "smart" those of us who prefer to teach our classes without the rhetorical crutch of PowerPoint are restricted to an ever decreasing number of marginal classrooms.  I am sick and tired of being treated like a second class citizen with this practice.  How about leaving some classrooms for people who like to use eye contact with students instead of with overhead screens?

So, yes, there is a great deal of work ahead.  But, can we approach it without hyperbole, please?