Bravo to T.V. Rajan's well written commentary on "The Good Old Days."1 The article flooded my memory with quite vivid (and recent) memories of the good old days in graduate school where one encountered either the mean-spirited or the easy-going professor, who shaped our present careers. As we look back, the human mind seems to remember the tough professor, who forced us to study just a bit harder or give a more detailed presentation than we would have given. However, the presence of the more compassionate and encouraging professor is also necessary in the recipe for the making of a successful graduate student. It is not necessarily the tyrannical professor who will instill discipline, but the one who connects best with the students. As we reach the ranks of "professor," I believe that we routinely reevaluate our sadistic professors, in part, because we are really evaluating ourselves to determine whether we have evolved into them. Whether our students look back on us with "that same mixture of awe and repugnance" depends solely on our relationship with the students. Lastly, to answer T.V. Rajan's question, "With our newfangled reluctance to hurt their feelings ... will our students have these colorful stories to share?" The answer is yes.
It would seem that we have also seen a shift in education from teacher-student to teacher-customer or something similar. This has some obvious concerns but does add some additional accountability to the relationship. In a similar vein, I would like to ask, what effect does the trend of "grading the professor" have? During the last class of each term the university hands out a form with the goal of rating teacher effectiveness. I wonder if this doesn't foster some sort of popularity contest? If this might be the case, then do we find ourselves demanding less of students to score high in this "contest" and end up cheating both the students and ourselves?
1. T.V. Rajan, "The Good Old Days," The Scientist, 15[22]:6, Nov. 12, 2001.
