One thing I would note is that good teachers are rare and not very “good,” but bad teachers are common and very very bad. This ties into Trevor’s post: once you’ve avoided the bad teachers, it’s probably not worth the much larger effort required to find an extra-bonus-good teacher that may or may not exist.
@linkhyrule5: Thanks for your thoughts, I really appreciate it.
I’d be grateful if you could provide some context regarding the reference class of educational environments for which you’ve made this statement (that the main problem is avoiding really bad teachers, rather than looking for really good ones).
I should probably have qualified my earlier post, as the only data I have to draw on is my own anecdotal evidence.
Nevertheless, with the qualifications that I went to a private high school and am currently at an Ivy college:
Sample size: since freshman high school, 26 “teachers” and nine “professors.” Definitions: a teacher/professor is good-I if I was particularly interested in his/her course (and not just the subject), and good-R if I retained particularly more from that course. A teacher/professor is bad-I if I was particularly uninterested in his/her course (and not just the subject), and bad-R if I retained particularly little from that course.
Of my teachers, 2 good-I teachers and 0 good-R teachers, with two “maybes”—not particularly good but above-average. 3 teachers who were both bad-I and bad-R—all of these are extreme cases, in which I learned almost nothing and loathed the class.
Of my professors, 0 good-I and no data on good-R (I’m a sophomore), but already 2 bad-I and I highly suspect bad-R.
One thing I would note is that good teachers are rare and not very “good,” but bad teachers are common and very very bad. This ties into Trevor’s post: once you’ve avoided the bad teachers, it’s probably not worth the much larger effort required to find an extra-bonus-good teacher that may or may not exist.
@linkhyrule5: Thanks for your thoughts, I really appreciate it.
I’d be grateful if you could provide some context regarding the reference class of educational environments for which you’ve made this statement (that the main problem is avoiding really bad teachers, rather than looking for really good ones).
I should probably have qualified my earlier post, as the only data I have to draw on is my own anecdotal evidence.
Nevertheless, with the qualifications that I went to a private high school and am currently at an Ivy college:
Sample size: since freshman high school, 26 “teachers” and nine “professors.”
Definitions: a teacher/professor is good-I if I was particularly interested in his/her course (and not just the subject), and good-R if I retained particularly more from that course. A teacher/professor is bad-I if I was particularly uninterested in his/her course (and not just the subject), and bad-R if I retained particularly little from that course.
Of my teachers, 2 good-I teachers and 0 good-R teachers, with two “maybes”—not particularly good but above-average. 3 teachers who were both bad-I and bad-R—all of these are extreme cases, in which I learned almost nothing and loathed the class.
Of my professors, 0 good-I and no data on good-R (I’m a sophomore), but already 2 bad-I and I highly suspect bad-R.
Thanks, I appreciate the clarification.