Professors have their own way of teaching; they have their own curriculum to impress lessons on students.
With one standardized curriculum, we might as well buy robots to teach classes.
Real educators live for teaching and therefore put effort into choosing assignments, resources, examples, textbooks and syllabi.
Chancellor Bruce Leslie’s approach to a standardized curriculum was discussed during the Faculty Senate meeting Feb. 6.
During the meeting, District 1 trustee Joe Alderete said faculty members should have the right to teach outside of the curriculum.
Alderete also said he agrees with a professor’s “academic freedom,” as long as there are no extra costs, such as extra textbooks.
Students choose colleges and professors specifically for their teaching standards. If there was one standardized curriculum, all colleges would be the same.
Under “About Us” on the district’s website, the value statement reads, “The members of Alamo Colleges are committed to building individual and collective character through the following set of shared values in order to fulfill our vision and mission.”
Along with statements on integrity, communication, community, and accountability and innovation, the district addresses academic freedom like this:
We value creativity, growth and transformation through vigorous inquiry and a free exchange of ideas.
Those things don’t happen in a standardized environment.
How can professors build “individual and collective character” if they cannot teach their individual styles? Each professor should be unique in teaching style because each student learns best from various styles.
Each professor’s teaching style should complement each student’s learning style.
Otherwise, what are we all doing here?