Tuesday, April 12, 2005

A Teacher who can't teach

If it's Tuesday night, it must be time for that adventure in learning--Geography 4, Cultural Geography. This had the potential to be a good class, but that potential, alas, was not fulfilled.

It's not the class's fault and it's not the subject matter--it's the teacher. He's a nice enough guy BUT a) He's not a good teacher; b) He doesn't know the subject material very well; and c) He's got his facts wrong a good 30 - 40 percent of the time. This is not a recipe for success. Given the syllabus, I could have prepared a better course than he's teaching.

Last week, he tried to teach that Jews believe that Jesus was a prophet. I would not, could not, let that one go. But never fear, his ignorance is non-denominational. He kept having to ask the length of Ramadan and he erred in saying that the basis of being Pope was in the Doctrine of Papal Infallibility.

I understand that religion is a tough section of this course, especially given the need to jam a lot of information into a short amount of time. But that is where a skilled teacher can do some good, and a bad one, like the one I've got to deal with, can, unfortunately, do a lot of harm.

No comments: