Opinion: ‘Guide on the Side’ Instead of ‘Sage on the Stage’

Laptop. Check. Microwave. Check. DVD player. Check. Books. Check. Education …

When a student walks across the stage, shakes the hand of the dean, and moves the tassel from the right to the left, he or she is signifying the completion of a degree, saying to the world, “I am educated and know more about [insert major here] than others who do not have this degree.”

But where did this knowledge come from? Bubbling-in answers on a Scantron sheet, hoping the “stuff and dump” method would pay off again? The unfortunate answer is, this method did pay off, and this student was awarded a degree. Although I may be mistaken, I am pretty sure this is not what moms and dads took out second mortgages on their homes for when they sent Johnny or Susie to the four-year institution of their choice after high school.

So, where did the education go in “higher education”? There are piles and piles of research illustrating the effectiveness of “active learning” techniques, “learner-centered teaching,” and (my favorite one) “contemporary pedagogy.” But, the problem lies in the higher education institutions themselves. The “stuff’em deep and teach’em cheap” method seems to have really caught on across institutions, where classes, particularly introductory-level, have 300+ students taught by an adjunct or assistant professor, or (even better) an instructor or teaching assistant. Well, who can blame them? If Jiffy Lube could change the oil in 300 cars in 50 minutes while paying one mechanic minimum wage, why not? It makes good business sense.

But, here lies the problem: this is education. Students are paying tens of thousands of dollars (and rising) to go to school each year, plus thousands more to actually live through their college years. And the best they can get is a massive class size, where teachers cannot place a face with a name, and information is being dumped on them.

The infamous teacher from The Peanuts comes to mind: “wah wah, wah wah, wah wah.” If there is all this research on how people learn, and ways to help them learn, how is it getting lost in translation? The main reason: people assume that if you know the information, you can teach. But this has been proven wrong over and over, and we all know what happens when we assume (and unfortunately, the students usually end up on the posterior side of that cliché).

Despite everything others may have told you, students pay to be taught information, because armed with this information, they should be able to get a better job, better pay, and essentially a better life. But somehow this system no longer works. Competent teachers need to be hired, with an emphasis to (oh no! not that word!) teach, and less time on research that only advances their own agenda and personal interests. And, it’s obvious where all this “research” goes – onto dusty bookshelves. If the university really puts students first, teachers would actually use some of these strategies to help students learn, remember, and analyze information and problems given to them.

Now is the time professors need to stop acting as the “Sage on the Stage,” where students merely watch and are expected to absorb information like a sponge, and more of a “Guide on the Side,” helping students learn the information through active learning techniques. The result of the current higher education atmosphere will not be felt until this generation is about 40, which is 20 more years to exploit students’ time and money. How about showing and changing this corruption so the four or more years students spend in college will actually be spent learning information instead of dumping information?

Perhaps then, education can be checked off the list of things expected in a college student’s life.

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