Teaching. A Parable.

Imagine taking a course at a university where the professor lectured once a week for an hour on a topic of his choosing. There was no syllabus, just an enormous, ancient textbook written in multiple dead languages that was at times confusing and extremely difficult to comprehend. Everyone was expected to read the book and get familiar with its contents so the lectures would make more sense. The lectures, predictably, were given with the intent to explain the textbook in greater detail and then prepare the students for future tests.

However, there were several difficulties that were not explained at the outset of the class. First of all, the tests were given at random and on an individual basis. Also, they generally did not relate to the previous lecture and in some cases to any lecture given up to that point. Often the lectures did not follow any particular pattern, but when they did, only a small percentage of people in the class were tested on that specific material. The professor’s intent was for the class to be discussing his lectures and the textbook through the week at various times, but that usually did not happen. Sometimes a few people from the class would gather for a study group at one of their homes, but they usually didn’t talk about the professor’s lectures. The generally accepted practice would be for one of the students to take it upon themselves to come up with their own lecture from the textbook and they would discuss that portion.

Some dutifully took notes on the lectures week after week, but became frustrated when they kept failing tests in spite of their diligence. After all, the tests were unpredictable and sometimes dealt with highly specific and advanced material – graduate level work perhaps. These diligent ones tried to study the textbook for themselves and occasionally had a little more success. But others got so wrapped up in their own studies that they began to miss classes and even ignored the tests.

The majority of the students did not take notes or even read the textbook. Most of them were failing tests, or like the self-studiers, missing the tests altogether, but they still came to class week after week to listen to the lectures. The professor, who noticed that his students were struggling on the tests, decided that he probably needed to open another lecture during the week for deeper and further explanation of the textbook. Some of the more conscientious students came to those lectures and added more notes to their notebooks. But the tests kept coming.

The professor decided to open up office hours for his students to come and discuss the material more in depth and to answer specific questions. Some came and took advantage of this opportunity and were able to talk to the professor about why they were failing tests and what they could do to improve. However, others came because the professor was a nice man and would listen to their problems. Pretty soon, the professor had a full schedule of students coming to listen to his advice about anything they felt uncomfortable with about school. The professor would try to help them all, but it was very difficult to give each person exactly what they wanted. Many came back to his office week after week with the same problem, but he had so many people to see that it was impossible to spend the time necessary to help the really hard cases. After a while, the professor was so busy that the people who were coming for help on the tests couldn’t even schedule a meeting with him anymore.

Eventually, many of the students began to drop the class. They had found another class where the professor’s lectures were much more interesting and more people were signing up to take his classes. They found out quickly that the professor used the same textbook, the tests were still random and difficult, and he was just as busy as the last professor. But he was a much more engaging speaker and appeared to be in tune with their problems at school. Many of the students decided that this just must be what college life is all about – find a good professor to listen to, take good notes, and try to get lucky on a test once in a while.