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Path: utzoo!henry
From: henry@utzoo.UUCP (Henry Spencer)
Newsgroups: net.rumor
Subject: Re: Any news about the reputed bomb explosion in the UCB CS Dept?
Message-ID: <5728@utzoo.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 25-Jun-85 13:54:13 EDT
Article-I.D.: utzoo.5728
Posted: Tue Jun 25 13:54:13 1985
Date-Received: Tue, 25-Jun-85 13:54:13 EDT
References: <1457@utah-gr.UUCP> <8@ucbcad.UUCP> <157@jendeh.UUCP> <5717@utzoo.UUCP>, <4288@hlexa.UUCP>
Organization: U of Toronto Zoology
Lines: 26

> If the prof is only reciting the text, why have the prof?

Because he has tenure.  And because "teaching" == "lecturing" is a hallowed
tradition, dating back to times when books were scarce and expensive.  (One
of the oldest universities in Europe apparently has an interesting document
posted outside the room that used to hold its library:  a Papal Bull which
decrees automatic excommunication for anyone stealing a book.  Gives you
some idea of just how valuable books were before the rise of printing.)

> ... Maybe I'm dating myself, but
> I seem to remember a time when there was a difference between a TEACHER and 
> a vcr.

There has always been a difference between a *good* teacher and a VCR.
You forgot that adjective.  Not all teachers are good.

> When I taught, every class had room for questions and answers during the
> presentation. ...

Of course.  And just what fraction of the time was occupied by them?
Considering that college students ought to be able to read considerably
faster than a professor can lecture, just how efficiently was the *rest*
of the time being used?
-- 
				Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology
				{allegra,ihnp4,linus,decvax}!utzoo!henry