One of the best professors my kid had was a Nobel prize winner. He did not win for pedagogy or for his ability to manage a classroom- he won for ground-breaking research.
But by all accounts, he was a mesmerizing and engaging and fantastic teacher as well.
Only on CC is it assumed that you cannot be both.
Exactly. Many regard Richard Feynman, a Nobel laureate and one of the most consequential physicists of this century, to be the most insightful, intuitive and elucidating physics teachers this country ever produced. However, when he lectured freshman physics at Caltech, by his account, only a small fraction of his students fully understood the materials (even at Caltech). How well a professor teaches isnât measured by how many students get As in the class.
INJ- donât forget that all colleges are the same, that ROI after graduation is the only meaningful measure of a âgood collegeâ vs. a bad college, and that small classes (under 20 students) are the only way to learn a topic. Otherwise known as âThings that people on CC believe to be gospelâ.
Omg that is not reality these days! Start with how many of your kids profs are Adjuncts- paid by the course hour (like 19thC piecework), no benefits, no commitment to employment beyond the current semester/year. Then look at what it takes to get a permanent job (including top student rating scores, getting enough of the right publications, serving on school and department committees). The only academics I know with âcushâ schedules are a handful of should-be retired and a couple of slippery eels who know how to work a system. Everybody else works mad hours. The amazing thing is how many of them are genuinely invested in their students.
Ps, fwiw, almost every PhD program requires a bit of teaching, and unis are increasingly giving PhD students some training in teaching before tossing them into the classroom.
My son goes to Binghamton and Professor M. Stanley Whittingham, who won a Nobel prize for chemistry, is apparently also a good instructor.
I honestly donât see a problem for the OPâs child. A freshman couldnât get into an art elective. This is mundane. The student is attending an LAC with a very good reputation. That doesnât mean the same thing as âevery student will always get to take every class they sign up for.â She will have to wait.
She will figure out, as she goes through college, how to get a schedule that works to her advantage. She probably heard it was a great class, so did everyone else, and she drew a short straw. I think itâs very disingenuous to consider declaring art as a double major just to have priority in getting the class. We are talking about a freshman, not a senior in her last semester.
I encourage you to reread the opening post in this thread. Seems more than a matter ââŠso mundane as to be barely worth discussing.â
But, yet you write âMy son goes to Binghamton and Professor M. Stanley Whittingham, who won a Nobel prize for chemistry, is apparently a good instructor.â How is this on topic ?
Why - because just like everyone is not meant to be an engineer or accountant, iâm not meant to be an academic. I almost worked in an MBA placement office - and it would have been a nice fit.
Some of our best friends are profs at a local top 20 - and the life is nice. Yes, they are researchers (social sciences). One serves on the admission committeeâŠbut they have months off, get special trips to symposiumsâŠteach two classes - i would definitely (at least for them) say itâs a cush life. For many, by the way, research to them is like the CC to me - a drug. They love it - itâs almost not work.
Iâm not trying to insult them or anyone - I"m just saying wouldnât it be great if all our kidâs teachers actually specialized in teaching - or at least trained in it - or at least required having a passion for it.
Thatâs all iâm reqlly saying - it made me think that after @ucbalumnus commentâŠ
My job is âalmost not workâ because I love it- that doesnât change the reality of my career.
OP asked: âAm I wrong to expect more ?â
No, you are correct in your thinking that a student at this particular LAC should be able to enroll in in one of many art courses or, at least, to be given a reasonable position on the waitlist.
Iâm not sure that discussion of a collegeâs and/or college instructorâs commitment to research (which does not really apply to studio art instructors - few of whom are tenure-track), and then berating users who go off topic, is beneficial to the OP.
I was referencing a couple of other posts before mine.
I read the original post. I addressed it earlier upthread, and Iâm addressing it again as this discussion evolves. I donât think there is any particular problem with the situation the OP has written about.
Thank you for your response. I do, and did, understand. This matter is important to the OP and to her daughter.
Personally, I encountered a somewhat similar situation at a National University for a family member. After multiple attempts to resolve the situation by the student, it took just one call to the Office of the President of the university to get the matter rectified within 48 hours by his assistant.
OP: You are right to be upset regarding art classesâespecially those open to freshmen & the waiting lists. College is expensive & this school caters to students with interest in the arts.
A major in education doesnât really qualify you to be teaching at the college level. You need to be highly educated in a specialty. If your kid is a physics major (or any major, for that matter) in college, do you really want him/her to be taught by someone with a degree in education?
Wow. This whole discussion is completely off-topic (sorry, OP), but as a professor, I just have to respond to the whole âcushy lifeâ misconception. Iâm a tenured humanities professor at a R1 public university and a head of my small department. Yes, I love both my research and my teaching (and, actually, most of my colleagues are very strong in both), and itâs nice to have job security (if youâre lucky to get tenure), paid conference trips, and general flexibility. But thereâs so much more going on that the outsiders donât see or know. The âmonths offâ are actually the summer months when weâre not paid (in my university, and I think this is the case in many places, weâre on a 9-month payment schedule spread over 12 months). So, technically, weâre not supposed to work in the summer, but most of us are using the summer to catch up on research or to prepare new courses. We serve on TONS of committees, both at the university and in our professional organizations (all of this for free). I often work late in the evenings after dinner, preparing for classes or responding to endless studentsâ (and othersâ) emails, because most of the day was spent in various admin meetings. Weâre constantly asked to review other scholarsâ book manuscripts, article submissions, tenure/promotion dossiers, grant proposals,etc. (most of it for free orâas in the case of book manuscripts for a Pressâfor a nominal fee, like $150). Of course, we can say no, but itâs our ethical and professional responsibility to do these services, otherwise our field canât exist, as itâs based on peer review. We mentor and advise graduate students, lead their dissertation projects, and write tens of recommendation letters when they go on the market. Itâs non-stop, and thereâs almost no separation between your work and personal time, because these emails and tasks keep coming. This is all in addition to our own teaching and research (and Iâm not even talking about all the departmental stuff I deal with as the Head).
So, is it a satisfying career? Yes, very much so. Is it cushy? No way. (And I wonât be able to respond today, because ⊠Iâm busy all day and donât have time to spend on the forum).
Back to the thread topic. Potential difficulty registering for needed classes should be one of the top priorities when selecting colleges. Check course schedules in previous years to see what classes are subject to limits and if these classes are among the ones you may take. When visiting the school/departments, ask staff and students in each department what classes have waitlists. Ask how students are prioritized for these courses and how waitlisting works. For popular majors (e.g. CS), ask about specific required courses and potential electives in oneâs specialty.
Once youâre enrolled, thereâs very little you can do, unfortunately.
My bad for taking off topic - I just had a thought (correct or not) at anotherâs comment.
Back to the OP - I had personally said - yes, you have the right to expect more - but it wonât change - that itâs a symptom of the colleges unrealistically setting expectations through all of their marketing.
But hopefully they will have your daughter on a path to getting the art minor she desires - with no extra time. Like @Lindagaf said hopefully this is just a seniority issue.
Yes, I think thatâs part of it.
I also think a big part of the original issue is that many LACs admitted an extra large freshman class to help offset the chaos of last year. More students are on campus, because I think students studying abroad are also lower so far for this academic year. All of this creates more demand. I have a feeling the college in question wonât be the only one experiencing such issues.
I think part of the problem is that OP edited her original post and took this question out.
Sorry @collegemom3717 this isnât directed at you but you had quoted the original comment before the OP removed it so I grabbed it from your post and it looks like Iâm replying to you.
I have two at small LACâs and D18 has had a few times where this occurred and then petitioned the prof and got in. D21 got everything for first session. Now for Winter term D21 decided to consider the popularity of a class she was interested in and opted to take that one later as she climbs up the ranks lol and went with a solid class she was very interested in and felt had a better chance at 
My D is a freshman at a small LAC and there have been conversations on the parent FB page about student issues registering for classes. The common message from the parents of upperclassmen seems to be current challenges are byproducts of covid (faculty sabbaticals or resource shortages in general). My D got her first choice classes but not first choice sections. So she ended up with an 8:30am class with âthe worst professorâ. Sheâs on a waitlist for a more desirable section, but this may be what she ends up with and based on this thread she should feel lucky to have her desired classes.