Friday, December 2, 2022

“treating students like grown-ups, simply talking with them, face-to-face, as fellow thinkers”

If It Was Good Enough for Socrates, It's Good Enough for Sophomores

…By testing students' intellectual agility, normalizing nerves and giving them space to be honest about bold opinions, oral exams treat undergraduates like adults: people who have interesting things to say and can handle being put on the spot. At a time when American universities tend to infantilize students — taking attendance in class, employing fleets of student affairs bureaucrats to tend to their needs — treating students like grown-ups is deeply countercultural.

The most empowering thing a teacher can do for her students has nothing to do with constant surveillance of their academic engagement, fancy classroom technology or a syllabus that caters to the latest trends. It is to simply talk with them, face-to-face, as fellow thinkers.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/02/opinion/college-oral-exam.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

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