Pedagogies for the Depressed

             

      
                         Rice off of Rhinos Series  

                   General Ed

         
        Our Pedagogical Algorithm      
          
              syllabus (contract)
 
      * lecture-to-discussion ratios
      * attendance policy  (cuts)
      * reading and writing assignments
          (texts, term & semester papers) 

      * talking in class points and policy
      * quizzes and examination policy
      * deadline policy (late penalties)
      * presentation/poster policies
      * assessment and evaluation policy 
      * diagnosed learning disability policy

If this structure structures the offering of our "new'
General Education Program then it don't matter the
content, topics, subject-object matter themes,
integrating this & that team teaching this or that: it's
basically, fundamentally more  of the same-old as the
non-gen/ed program

We teach How-to-Take-a-Course and they are all the
same, no matter the devilish  details and diversity
Pattern Language. Some of you remember that notion. 

          
Ways we teach are obsolete.

We know this but what's a teacher to do?. It's an
environmental problem.  Collective mind-set.  Habit
and habitat for humanities.   Weltanschaung. City Hall.
The Joneses.

Courses: syllabi-driven aims, goals, nailed  down
purpose & expected measurable outcomes.All of us
"in the business" know better.

Killing geese for golden eggs. .

Thorn in the flesh, pea under the mattresses wake us in
the  middle of the night or early morning  gut grinding:guilt
turning the screw between compliance and what we know
about knowing I bet you five dollars:

 Cover up & denial raises the bozone layer. Toxic waste.

Cultural lag. Sure.  No doubt good descripton but no excuse.
Media is the Message--not the message.. 

xxxooo, Sam (elder. presbyter: old guy. geezer)

Age is no better, hardly so well, qualified for an instructor as youth,
for it has not profited so much as it has lost.. (Thoreau.)