Big schools
So I really like UCI for alot of things (research related) however the teaching situations here annoy me lots and I'm fairly certain it's not a "here" thing but a big school thing. My problem with it is in regards to teaching so many people don't care about it at all. I realize that for a large majority we are not in school to teach. We are in school to do research. This doesn't excuse an attitude of indifference when it comes to students. Yes they are responsible for learning their material and I'm fairly rude to the people who obviously just want me to do the work for them. However there are so many students who really want to learn and T.A.s and professors should do everything in their power to teach them every thing they want to know. Granted this attitude has got me into some fairly complicated class discussions about MO theory that I really didn't want to be in with biology majors taking a gen chem class but at least I fulfilled curiosity on a subject people wanted to know more about.
My othr issue is that I figure the hour of discussions really is the students time and it should be used how they want it to be used. Meaning that if they want ten minutes on reviewing the material before they work on the worksheet than what harm is done. But I suppose that takes an extra 30 minutes of time a week on preparation and so really what the point (people say)? I mean after all its a big school they knew they weren't going to have people teaching them that gave a shit right? I just think to a certain extent that attitude is wrong. I realize I can't give them the time that I could if I was at a community college but if I can do an hour or two worth of work a week and have 150 students understand (maybe even like) chemistry better it seems like a good hour and a half spent.
My othr issue is that I figure the hour of discussions really is the students time and it should be used how they want it to be used. Meaning that if they want ten minutes on reviewing the material before they work on the worksheet than what harm is done. But I suppose that takes an extra 30 minutes of time a week on preparation and so really what the point (people say)? I mean after all its a big school they knew they weren't going to have people teaching them that gave a shit right? I just think to a certain extent that attitude is wrong. I realize I can't give them the time that I could if I was at a community college but if I can do an hour or two worth of work a week and have 150 students understand (maybe even like) chemistry better it seems like a good hour and a half spent.