The College Solution: A Guide for Everyone Looking for the Right School at the Right Price, Second Edition (Richard Stout's Library) by Lynn O’Shaughnessy

Author:Lynn O’Shaughnessy
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: FT Press
Published: 2012-01-14T16:00:00+00:00

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Action Plan

Having meaningful access to professors is often tougher at research universities.

If you are an introvert, attending a research university might not be the best choice.

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31. What University Professors Do

Many students cannot imagine going to speak with a professor in his or her office. At most universities, a student is likely to be unknown to the professor and would expect to feel like a nuisance, a distraction from more important work.

—William Pannapacker, associate professor of English, Hope College

Among professors, the freedom to pursue research is practically considered a birthright. I once talked to a friend of mine, who is a chemistry professor at a highly ranked university, about academics’ preoccupation with research. He summed up his motivation along with that of his peers this way: “I’m not paid to teach, I’m paid to do research.”

What’s fascinating about this research focus is that it didn’t used to interfere with what many families wrongly assume is the No. 1 priority of universities—teaching students. I was surprised when I read a history of the University of California, Berkeley, and discovered that earlier in the 20th century, professors at this esteemed flagship conducted their research in their spare time and spent their workweeks teaching students.

Those days will never return, but I don’t think it’s too much to ask that the academic pursuits of professors be balanced with the rights of undergraduates to obtain a decent education. Students have clearly lost in this tug of war and with disastrous consequences.

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