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It sounds like you are quite ignorant of how research happens - the situation is precisely the opposite of what you describe. The research money comes almost ex
by mjhay 4y ago
It sounds like you are quite ignorant of how research happens - the situation is precisely the opposite of what you describe. The research money comes almost exclusively from external grants, and the universities take a large chunk, often > 50%, off the top.
The research subsidizes the university, not the other way around as you somehow think. Most professors would love to spend more time on undergrad education, but that's not what keeps the lights on - research grants do.
- HDThoreaun 4y agoProfessors would leave the university system if they didn't need the resources it provided them. They know they need undergrads, and they hate it.
- mjhay 4y agoYou have a bizarre idea of how this works. I take it you have never done grad school research? You can't just independently get research grants, you basically have to be in an established university or research center. The lab equipment, the computers, all of that comes from research grants. Professors are incentivized by the university to get more grant money (e.g. focus more on research), because that means the university gets more money. This isn't complicated.
- HDThoreaun 4y agoI guess I'm just jaded from having to deal with professors who obviously couldn't stand undergrads and did everything in their power to ignore them. Undergrad would be much more effective if it was separated from research.
- mjhay 4y agoSure, it's not an ideal situation, but one that just kind of arose. Non-research focused liberal arts schools pretty consistently give higher-quality undergrad educations, but they are also a lot more expensive. Many professors suck, but many people in any profession suck.
- mcguire 4y agoMy experience was the opposite. The best classes were those taught by professors doing active research on the topic. Separating research would drastically harm instruction.
- HDThoreaun 4y agoThank you for your perspective. What do you think should be done about professors who have no interest in teaching but are forced to anyway by their university? The issue as I see it is about incentives. There are no incentives for being a good teacher, so all the effort goes into research, leading to subpar experiences for undergrads.