College students are responsible for funding their higher education in some way or another. For the huge amount of money we pay for our classes, we should get our money’s worth.
College comes with certain baseline expectations: You pay tuition to take classes that fulfill your graduation requirements, and you anticipate your professor will teach you what you paid to learn. At least, these were my expectations coming into college. Unfortunately, my experiences haven’t all been that way.
I’ve had many professors who were incredible at their job and a joy to learn from. My favorite thing about taking classes with so many different instructors is that each of their teaching styles is different. Some prefer to lecture to the class, some prefer discussion-based lessons and others even lean towards small-group work. Each style has something great to offer, and it has helped me become flexible with how I learn.
Something I just can’t get behind, though, is leaving all the teaching up to the textbook.
I’ve been in multiple classes where we were assigned to read several textbook pages and complete corresponding exercises based on the material covered. Then, I’d show up to class, ready for further instruction building on the chapters’ foundations. Instead, what I’d be met with was a run-through of the correct answers and a list of assignments from the book for next time.
In these situations, it felt like the textbook did all the teaching, and the instructor was left to simply act as an answer key.
This semester, I’m in a 200-level Latin course (it’s for a CAS requirement, okay). Latin can be difficult to understand because of the sheer amount of grammatical information you need to memorize to translate a simple sentence.
Of course, I’d already taken Latin classes for two semesters, so even though my skills had rusted a little over the summer, I figured I’d be alright. Let’s just say I was more than a little off.
In previous semesters, the professor took the time to go through each chapter of the textbook and provided her own explanations to each portion. She was a phenomenal instructor, and I learned a lot. This time around, I haven’t been so lucky.
From the first day, my classmates and I were thrown into pages filled with excerpts of original Latin. We were expected to recall everything we’d learned before (fair enough), but now that we’re moving on to new material, we have to teach it to ourselves.
The classes usually open with a review of the homework (exercises from a textbook) from the last meeting. Then we do a few translations from the textbook in small groups, and we’re dismissed with six to 10 pages of reading plus exercises to complete before the next class. Throughout the “lecture,” the only instruction we’re given is which page to turn to.
Don’t get me wrong, I understand the importance of supplementary readings — they’re an extremely helpful resource to add deeper context to a professor’s instruction — but it’s a different story if the chapters alone are the source of our education.
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According to an EBSCO article about self-directed learning (teaching yourself) and student performance, self-regulated learning can be an effective way to learn. The article actually shows it can increase overall academic performance and help overcome academic procrastination.
However, in the same article, it’s pointed out that to be good at self-directed learning, one must already possess well-developed motivational and discipline skills (initiative and openness to learning opportunities).
To leave students on their own with a textbook is assuming they all have these skills — spoiler alert, they might not. This puts students who do have them at an advantage, and sets students who haven’t had the chance to develop those skills behind. If the goal of open education is to ensure students of all backgrounds have the same opportunities, then pawning instruction off to a textbook isn’t going to work.
I don’t like the idea of paying for an education that I’m supplying myself. As a student at Miami University, I would love the opportunity to learn from people, not from black words on a white page.
Leave the teaching to the professors, not to the textbook.
Kenzi Perkins is a sophomore journalism major with a fashion minor from Somerset, Ohio. She writes for Opinion and Culture at The Miami Student. She is an active member of the Miami University Chapter of Delight Ministries and Cru. Kenzi is also on the communications team for UP Magazine.
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