Rethinking University Teaching and Social Adaptation

Posted on Jan 14, 2025 in Psychology and Sociology

Rafael Feito: Rethinking University Teaching

Main Idea

The author, a Sociology professor at the Complutense University of Madrid, analyzes and reflects on the teaching practices of university professors, questioning whether they effectively fulfill their roles.

Summary

  • How is college teaching? Feito admits that little is known about the subject, and there has been a reluctance to delve into it. However, while teaching is discussed in high school, it is often neglected in higher education.
  • Reflection is necessary for two reasons:
    • Changes in university educational policy.
    • Changes in the knowledge society.

Target Text

  • Videos on how teaching should be conducted at the university.
  • Reflections to be considered in high school, secondary education, and college.

Citizen and Professional Development

  1. The Role of the University:
    • “The university shapes the future professionals who produce science and new knowledge.”
    • “A university education should produce not just experts, but also cultured citizens.”
  2. Experiences from the Field of Production:
    • “Employers seek individuals with specific knowledge and the ability to collaborate effectively.”
    • “However, universities often rely on outdated problem-solving approaches.”

Current University Teaching

  • “The teacher’s role is not to transmit acquired knowledge, but to teach students to question, promoting intellectual development.”
  • “The university does not replace reading but presupposes it.”
  • “The current method of information transmission favors data accumulation over critical thinking.” (El País)
  • “Students often take notes without understanding the content, potentially hindering the learning objectives.” (Unamuno)
  • Feito argues that the problem lies in the educational system from kindergarten through university.

Stages of Change

  • Changing teaching practices is challenging, and there is often a lack of concern for improvement.
  • Academics often mirror the teaching styles of their predecessors, particularly those from high school.

The European Credit Transfer System (ECTS)

  • “European credit is based not on class hours but on the student’s effective workload. There should be more hours dedicated to independent work.”

An Open Learning Environment

  • Students should have opportunities to discuss their ideas with teachers.
  • “It is imperative that students perform ongoing research.”
  • “It is desirable that students become accustomed to writing essays.”

Conclusions

  • Teaching is a highly neglected aspect of higher education.
  • Teachers lack motivation to improve because their salary is not significantly affected by teaching quality.
  • There is a lack of professional culture surrounding teaching.

R.K. Merton: Social Structure and Anomie

Main Idea

Social structure exerts pressure on individuals, who may shift between different modes of adaptation when faced with varying social structures. These modes represent the behavioral or social roles individuals adopt.

Types of Adaptation

  1. Conformity:
    • The most common form of adaptation.
    • Maintenance of values shared by individuals who influence each other.
    • “There are social relations, but there is no society.”
    • An imagined target.
  2. Innovation:
    • “Achieving at least the simulacrum of success, wealth, and power.”
    • This occurs when individuals assimilate the cultural emphasis on the goal, regardless of the means to achieve it.
    • “Almost all the happiness in this world is to possess everything that others cannot get.”
  3. Ritualism:
    • Easily recognizable.
    • “The abandonment or reduction of high cultural objectives of monetary success and rapid social mobility to the extent that one can fulfill their aspirations.”
  4. Retreatism:
    • Less common.
    • “Individuals, adapted or poorly adapted, are in society but not of it.”
    • “For sociology, these are the true outsiders.”
  5. Rebellion:
    • May stem from resentment, characterized by hatred, envy, hostility, and a sense of powerlessness.
    • “Individuals who are outside the social structure think about and try to bring into existence a new or heavily modified social structure.”
    • “Exile of existing goals and standards.”
Anomie

From a sociological perspective, anomie, as defined by Merton, can be seen as a symptom of the dissociation between culturally prescribed aspirations and the socially structured means to achieve them.