什么是大学教授？

朱猛进

          在世界范围内，大学教授（university professor）的title是比较有分量的。但大学教授到底应该是什么样的，至今国内外都很难有统一的定论。不管怎么样，国内外对大学教授的定位和评价都离不开“教学”、“学术”这些最为基本的元素，这些元素缺少一样都不可能成为真正意义上的大学教授，因为缺失学术就会沦为“教书匠”，缺失教学就成了研究员。对于大学教授的“教学”，国内外的认识有很大的差别。埃默里大学的语言学教授Mark Bauerlein在《纽约时报》撰文谈到，大学教授授课是要通过“challenge students in class and engage them beyond it”，从而升华达到“an induction of eager minds”的目的，强调大学教授对学生思想的引导作用。休斯顿大学（Clear Lake分校）的Keith Parsons 教授在《写给新生的信（Message to My Freshman Students）》中写道：“I am your professor, not your teacher. There is a difference……It is no part of my job to make you learn.”在Keith Parsons看来，教授与教师有着巨大的区别，督促大学生学习不是大学教授的工作，大学教授讲课的作用只是“lead you to the fountain of knowledge”，大学教授不应对大学生的学习效果负责，因为“whether you drink deeply or only gargle is entirely up to you”。大学课堂的重点是对学生未来作为合格公民（citizens）角色的引导，培养学生的思维方式，帮助学生发展有意义的生活哲学观（a meaningful philosophy of life），部分课程是为未来职场的技能做储备，以便于学生将来有机会过上富裕的生活（well off financially）。

          依据上述观点，在大学生未走出校园之前，大学课堂教学效果如何，实际上是不可考察的，真正的考察只能是来自用人单位的反馈信息，来自学生走进社会后取得的“平均成就值”，这也是个人一直认为校友会大学排行榜稍微比武书连排行榜更靠谱一点的原因之一。学期结束就来考察大学教师的“教学效果”，实际上是做不到的，也是错误定位了大学教授在教学中的作用。华东师范大学阎光才教授在《我们的教育究竟缺什么？》一文中通过工作后的人群调查表明：在关于大学期间最为受益环节的判断上，所有样本选择“校外实习与社会活动”比例为37%、“同学间的互动交流”为22%、“课外自学”为15.3%，而“教师指导”和“课堂教学”仅仅分别为11.7%和13.6%。显然，大学课堂很重要但不是高等教育的全部，只是其组成的一部分。目前，国内有一种倾向，简单将大学45分钟课堂等同于大学教育，并以teacher（教书匠）的标准来评价大学教师，这显然不是运作高等教育的思维了。国内一些高校的评价标准和某些学者的观点实际反映出国内外对大学教授在教育中的定位认识上的差别，国内定位为teacher，国外定位为professor，国内某些大学领导的指挥棒和某些新闻舆论无疑是在努力将大学教师角色往teacher的位置上推而已。

Message to My Freshman Students

Keith M.Parsons

Philosopher, historian, author; Professor of Philosophy at University ofHouston-Clear Lake

For the first time in many years I am teaching a freshman course,Introduction to Philosophy. The experience has been mostly good. I had beentold that my freshman students would be apathetic, incurious, inattentive,unresponsive and frequently absent, and that they would exude an insufferablesense of entitlement. I am happy to say that this characterization was not trueof most students. Still, some students are often absent, and others, even whenpresent, are distracted or disengaged. Some have had to be cautioned that classis not their social hour and others reminded not to send text messages inclass. I have had to tell these students that, unlike high school, they willnot be sent to detention if they are found in the hall without a pass, and thatthey are free to leave if they are not interested. Actually, I doubt that thedifferences between high school and university have ever been adequatelyexplained to them, so, on the first class day of next term, I will address mynew freshmen as follows:

Welcome to higher education! If you want to be successful here you need to knowa few things about how this place works. One of the main things you need toknow is the difference between the instructors you will have here and those youhad before. Let me take a few minutes to explain this to you.

First, I am your professor, not your teacher. There is a difference. Up tonow your instruction has been in the hands of teachers, and a teacher's job isto make sure that you learn. Teachers are evaluated on the basis of learningoutcomes, generally as measured by standardized tests. If you don't learn, thenyour teacher is blamed. However, things are very different for a universityprofessor. It is no part of my job to make you learn. At university, learningis your job -- and yours alone. My job is to lead you to the fountain ofknowledge. Whether you drink deeply or only gargle is entirely up to you.

Your teachers were held responsible if you failed, and expected to showthat they had tried hard to avoid that dreaded result. I am not heldresponsible for your failures. On the contrary, I get paid the same whether youget an "F" or an "A." My dean will not call me in and askhow many conferences I had with your parents about your progress. Indeed, sinceyou are now an adult, providing such information to your parents would be anillegal breach of privacy. Neither will I have to document how often I offeredyou tutoring or extra credit assignments. I have no obligation whatsoever tomake sure that you pass or make any particular grade at all.

Secondly, universities are ancient and tend to do things the old-fashioned way.In high school your education was basically a test-preparation service. Yourteachers were not allowed to teach, but were required to focus on preparing youfor those all-important standardized tests. Though it galls ideologues, weuniversity professors still enjoy a large degree of academic freedom. Thatmeans that the content and format of your courses is still mostly under yourprofessor's control, and the format will probably include a good bit oflecture, some discussion and little or no test preparation.

Lecture has come under attack recently. "Flipped learning" is thecurrent buzz term among higher-education reformers. We old-fashionedchalk-and-talk professors are told that we need to stop being the "sage onthe stage," but should become the "guide on the side," helpingstudents develop their problem-solving skills. Lecture, we are told, is anineffective strategy for reaching today's young people, whose attention span ismeasured in nanoseconds. We should not foolishly expect them to listen to us,but instead cater to their conditioned craving for constant stimulation.

Hogwash. You need to learn to listen. The kind of listening you need tolearn is not passive absorption, like watching TV; it is critical listening.Critical listening means that you are not just hearing but thinking about whatyou are hearing. Critical listening questions and evaluates what is being saidand seeks key concepts and unifying themes. Your high school curriculum wouldhave served you better had it focused more on developing your listening skillsrather than drilling you on test-taking.

Finally, when you go to a university, you are in a sense going to anothercountry, one with a different culture and different values. I have come torealize that the biggest gap between you and me is a cultural difference. Ihave absorbed deeply the norms and values of an ancient academic culture andthey are now a part of me. You, on the other hand, come to my classes freshfrom a culture with different values, one that finds academic ways strange andhard to understand.

Take the issue of documentation. For an academic, there is something sacredabout a citation. The proper citation of a source is a small tribute to thehard work, diligence, intelligence and integrity of someone dedicated enough tomake a contribution to knowledge. For you, citations and bibliographies arepointless hoops to jump through and you often treat these requirementscarelessly. Further, our differences on the issue of giving or taking propercredit accounts for the fact that you so seldom take plagiarism as seriously asI do.

If you want to know the biggest difference between you and your professor,it is probably this: You see university as a place where you get a credential.For your professor, a university is not primarily about credentialing. Yourprofessor still harbors the traditional view that universities are abouteducation. If your aim is to get a credential, then for you courses will beobstacles in your path. For your professor, a course is an opportunity for youto make your world richer and yourself stronger.