experienced Instructors in there too? Mr. Vice President: I'm an educated American with my Masters Degree in Curriculum and Instruction with an emphasis on Special Education. I have taught learning disabled kids, emotionally disturbed kids, autistic kids, kids in juvenile correctional facilities and also kids at day treatment and residential centers. In addition, I have also taught English and Communication classes at a couple of community colleges. Having been both a teacher and a learner, I'd like to know what is going to be done to improve the coursework at the Universities we attend? From what I've seen it is very general and is mostly about theory with very little application to the real world. I know myself and other colleagues have felt like when we walk out of a class that we don't feel any better prepared to do anything different in our jobs than when we walked into the class at the beginning. The President claimed tonight we have the best colleges in the world. I'm sorry, but I highly disagree. In fact, I have much more respect for colleges in other countries than I do colleges in the United States. Colleges here in the USA are all about making money and having you jump through hoops by taking pre-requisite classes that have nothing to do with the class you wanted to take in the first place. Plus, even when you get to that class you needed or wanted, about 95% of the time it ends up being something else than you thought it was going to be, or not helping you at all. We need stronger, more specific coursework in our college programs across the nation vs. all these general courses we have now that lead students nowhere. I grant you that the student needs to take some responsibility for learning outside of the classroom by exploring other resources, professional groups, subjects related to his/her interests at the library and any other avenues that may spur them on. But that will only take you so far. Sometimes you don't know what you don't know, until someone offers you an insight or helps you connect the dots and fill that void between theory and application. So my question is what can you do to help improve our University programs and to get more experienced Instructors in there too? Currently we have some Instructors in teaching positions that have never been out in the real world. I would rather hear from Instructors who are on top of things in their field by attending seminars, keeping up to date with the latest research and who have gained experience by being out in their field. By the way, when was the last time any of the White House Staff really took the time to visit a University/ College campus and truly find out about the issues that Universities and Colleges are facing today? I'm not talking about just showing up for an hour to give a speech either. Then when you do find out about the issues and what they are, what do you plan to do to help? From what I've seen President Obama talks a good game, but never lays out a plan or goes into detail about how he plans to do anything. Personally, I think he's too apathetic to do anything at all for what the American people need, and has his own personal agenda. If it were up to me he'd be impeached.
Regardless, tonight President Obama claimed he wants to invest in education, etc. Well I say "Prove it!" While I do my best to help the kids I described earlier, I really wonder what I am preparing them for when our Universities/Colleges aren't really preparing current and future students for what they are going to face in the real world. To add insult to injury, at the same time all this is going on, the Universities/Colleges are charging us all a fortune and putting us in all in debt! So how's that help us and the economy? Answer: It doesn't! So what can you do?
Sincerely,
Rob G.
Regardless, tonight President Obama claimed he wants to invest in education, etc. Well I say "Prove it!" While I do my best to help the kids I described earlier, I really wonder what I am preparing them for when our Universities/Colleges aren't really preparing current and future students for what they are going to face in the real world. To add insult to injury, at the same time all this is going on, the Universities/Colleges are charging us all a fortune and putting us in all in debt! So how's that help us and the economy? Answer: It doesn't! So what can you do?
Sincerely,
Rob G.