Did you know that one definition of the word "college" from Webster's Ninth New Collegiate dictionary is "a group of people who are seen by the law as a single unit"?
That's easy to understand. I don't think many people would disagree with what was said. But college curriculums can be very different, depending on whether they teach in a traditional way or in an unstructured way.
Since the time of philosopher and teacher Rousseau, who questioned the idea that education is not about giving knowledge to students but about bringing out what they already know,
There have been both types of colleges and universities in the past.
Some educational theorists have talked about the benefits of an unstructured or "open" learning environment. However, others say that a highly structured learning environment is more likely to lead to better academic success.
So, the question is: Can student interest alone provide a structure for higher education, or must it be imposed by an educator?
Welcome to the debate, which is still going on and will probably keep going based on how things are going right now. The good news is that this is in no way an official "argument" among teachers. Instead, there are just different ways to learn and enjoy the social environment of college.
Some studies have shown that students learn more when they are involved in what they are studying. This kind of self-paced curriculum is made up of learning on websites, independent study, and mock "on-the-job" situations in which students actively work with the material.
On the other hand, you can say a lot about the traditional side of higher education, where students are always encouraged to take part in classroom discussions or events, but mostly just listen, learn, and take notes on what the teacher is teaching.
Educators have learned that if they want to help college students learn, they need to be ready to offer courses that are more "personality-driven" than the old one-room schoolhouse plan. This is why there are so many different styles, even within each module. In a way, teachers and professors are also learning. They are learning more about how to teach and make study plans for each student in the best way possible. This is a relatively new way of doing things that takes into account not only SAT scores and entrance exams, but also personality tests given before entry.
Even at the college level, the world of education is changing, and administrators know that if they want to raise the dropout rate, they need to give this "group of people considered by law to be a unit" a lot of chances to learn.
And the great thing about this ongoing process is that students are far more involved in the "style" of education they receive; it has become a world of "student centred learning," as opposed to "teacher-centered."
In either case, you can be sure that teachers will always be needed. These are people who have studied very hard and then taken on a position that requires a lot of virtue, courage, and hard work.
