----- Original Message ----- From: Christopher D. Green To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) Sent: Saturday, December 16, 2006 4:46 PM Subject: [tips] Expert Panel Proposes Far-Reaching Redesign of the American Education System - New York Times
The eudcational system that is being proposed for the US here -- two years of community college between 10th grade and university -- is effectively the system that has existed in Quebec for decades now. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/15/education/15school.html?_r=1&ref=education&oref=slogin or http://tinyurl.com/uecrh As a product of that system myself, I strongly recommend that they look closely at the Quebec experience before going there. In theory, the idea of having students gradually ease into the freedoms and electives of university is a good one. Where it falls down is in the quality of the professors in the CEGEPs (as the equivalent of community colleges are known in Quebec). All too often they are either ABDs who couldn't finish their degrees, or frustrated PhDs who were unable to land jobs in the university system for one reason or another. Some eventually settle nicely into the role of a CEGEP teacher, but many do not, as it is a role that they never sought, nor that they were specifically trained for. Of course, many will tell me that the US already has a fine community college system, and it is just amatter of expanding it to include, well, everyone. That may be true, but imagine attempting to expand it by, say, 5-fold in one fell swoop. Where would all those new teachers come from? >From the pool of people currently NOT being hired by community colleges. What one really needs to make such a system work is a class of degree that doesn't (yet) exist -- somewhere between the topic specialization of the PhD and the emphasis on teaching of the B.Ed. degree. No doubt Stephen Black, Stuart McKelvie (who both have a CEGEP sharing their university campus) will have interesting insights with respect to this proposal. (Are their any other Quebecers on theTIPS list? Was our resident Klondiker, Jean-Marc Perreault, educated in Quebec?) Regards, Chris This idea was also mentioned in a book called Jefferson's Children. So Quebec should not take all the accolades.Michael Sylvester,PhD Daytona Beach,Florida --- To make changes to your subscription go to: http://acsun.frostburg.edu/cgi-bin/lyris.pl?enter=tips&text_mode=0&lang=english
