Comments | mareserinitatis: A bit more on gatekeeping

mareserinitatis

A bit more on gatekeeping

Jan 21, 2009 14:50

Motorhead9999 left a comment in my last post which I think deserves a response on its own. Part of the comment was:

I've never considered what you call "gatekeeping" a bad thing. I actually think they're aimed at a complete different set of people than you're identifying. I feel that these weeder classes are there to a)give people a clear sense of what ( Read more... )

education, school, teaching, engineering, grad school

Comments 7

ext_93272 January 21 2009, 16:30:19 UTC

"In a standard circuits class, the teacher presents a concept on the board and then some hokey lab is done to reinforce what they saw in the class. The students go through the steps of the lab mindlessly and nod their heads as whatever they learned in lecture is supposedly reinforced ( ... )

mareserinitatis January 21 2009, 16:43:38 UTC

Actually, I see this as a gatekeeping issue in STEM precisely because this may be the best way to learn for some people. If they are not allowed to learn that way, that doesn't mean they are bad scientists, mathematicians, or engineers. It means that they are not being presented material in a way that is optimal for them to learn, which means people who are potentially good problem solvers might be kept from going on in their studies. So while I was using an example from engineering specifically, I do think it applies to all STEM areas, and I do think there is gatekeeping going on in those other areas as well.

fields_dude January 22 2009, 05:15:39 UTC

Some observations from the peanut gallery ( ... )

ext_152957 January 23 2009, 20:06:19 UTC

When I was going through undergrad, our weeder class was in the 1st semester of the 2nd year. It was a class on analog circuits and the prof started writing down equations in the s-domain. No one in the class knew a lick about the s-domain. It would not be taught until a math course the next semester ( ... )

mareserinitatis January 23 2009, 22:55:03 UTC

I feel that weeder classes are a symptom of an apathetic teaching staff rather than a coordinated effort by design.

I do agree that this is a huge contributor to the problem. On the other hand, when professors who do this are confronted, their tendency is to say that the students aren't studying hard enough and not everyone can be an engineer. They would rather take responsibility for getting rid of "lousy engineers" than accept responsibility for lousy teaching. :-)

It's so amazing when you do get a prof who knows how to draw things together and explain well. I wish there were more profs who were concerned about their teaching. Can you imagine if school were actually fun and enjoyable? :-)

ext_152957 January 24 2009, 04:12:51 UTC

Can you imagine if school were actually fun and enjoyable? :-)
That's why when I win the lottery, I'm going to quit my job and go back to school to study something fun. Like philosophy perhaps. Or recreation. I'm really counting on that lottery ticket 'cause doubles as my retirement plan.

darkgeek January 26 2009, 22:41:23 UTC

As someone ABD in physics, I'd say that what I've seen is that the things you are describing as engineering-on-the-job, versus engineering-in-the-classroom, are very similar to the contrast between graduate and undergraduate study. The BS is basically about learning basic and useful tools and theory, which is where "gatekeeping" comes in ( ... )