Mr. Parsons makes his opinion very clear that he is the “Sage on the Stage” (Parsons 2015) and that he is not simply a teacher. This statement implies that he believes professors to be better than teachers, and from that further supports the idea that college is the place of real learning while high school is only checking the box to complete required exams. To change a statement I heard many times in the military, “Teachers are where the rubber meets the road”. How can students pass these required exams without learning, and more importantly without someone teaching them? How can anyone hope to expand their education without having an understanding of the basic principles? Without a good foundation the building will fall.
In the blog post titled “Message to my Freshman Students” by (Mr. Keith Parsons) Mr. Parsons’ plan of explaining exactly what was expected of his students removed any confusion of what they must do. He clearly demonstrated that he was the professor in charge of his freshman class. Mr. Parsons goes on to detail the differences between teachers and professors by arguing that teachers are evaluated on the performance of their students, while professors are not responsible for a student failing. He is not required by any law to spoon feed knowledge to any student, only to provide said knowledge and the remainder is left to the student themselves. He emphasizes that universities are ancient and tend to be old fashioned, and that he has “absorbed deeply the norms and values” (Parsons 2015). He insists that high school is test preparation while university is about education. Critical listening is one of Mr. Parsons’ key points. He describes critical listening as being mentally engaged in what is being said, questioning and evaluating concepts and themes. Citation is sacred to Mr. Parsons and compares them to a tribute for all of the hard work involved by the author. Upon my first reading of Mr. Parsons’ blog post I was initially joyous that there was someone I could relate too concerning higher education. His direct no-nonsense approach reminded me of being in the army again, and I respected that. He was the drill instructor and I was the soldier following commands. After fully digesting his blog post though, I must use a word from Mr. Parsons’ own blog. I say “HOGWASH” and I can come to only one conclusion: Mr. Parsons is an antiquated relic of the past with a closed mind to the future. I myself am from a time where people would say, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” (The Big Spring Herald, December, 1976). My first thought is, where would any of us be if we had truly embraced that statement? Flipped learning is an alien concept to me personally and my return to college after twenty plus years is my first exposure to it. While I cannot argue for or against this style of instruction, I can support change and progress. If there is a better, cheaper, faster or more efficient way to accomplish a task then I say use it. The statement “Work smarter not harder”(Allan F. Mogensen, Work Simplification,1930) comes to mind.
Mr. Parsons makes his opinion very clear that he is the “Sage on the Stage” (Parsons 2015) and that he is not simply a teacher. This statement implies that he believes professors to be better than teachers, and from that further supports the idea that college is the place of real learning while high school is only checking the box to complete required exams. To change a statement I heard many times in the military, “Teachers are where the rubber meets the road”. How can students pass these required exams without learning, and more importantly without someone teaching them? How can anyone hope to expand their education without having an understanding of the basic principles? Without a good foundation the building will fall.
10 Comments
I also had the same views my first time reading the article. I felt that Parsons was telling it how it is, and after reading it a few more times, I began to question his opinions. I completely agree with Parsons being "...an antiquated relic of the past...", and progress is definitely a good thing.
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9/1/2015 13:48:52
I like how you incorporated the youtube video of "Full Metal Jacket" in your blog. I also respect you in the fact that you are not opposed to change and that you are not a "Keith Parsons." I also respect you for coming back to school and trying to better yourself
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9/1/2015 14:19:38
Your blog post is a real eye opener of an older persons' viewpoint instead of a freshly high school graduate. I wouldn't have thought of it on my own, until I put myself in your shoes to see where you're coming from.
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Tito Bendeck
9/2/2015 04:25:07
JD, I I like how your perspective from mostly everyone, and how someone who has lived more than me can see the good in bad. I like when you say, ''college is the place of real learning while high school is only checking the box to complete required exams''. I had never thought about it this way, but I totally agree, Be safe.
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JD
9/10/2015 13:13:55
Thank you Tito for taking the time to reply, I know we are all busy. The point I was trying to make was that I disagreed with Mr. Parsons comparison of High School and College. Unless I misunderstood.
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