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But wait, she’s got an accent too …
In Minnesota, the House Higher Education Committee considered a bill, pushed for by many college students, requiring that all professors at public universities and colleges be able to speak clear English. Among other things, the bill would allow students who can’t understand their professor to withdraw from the class and receive a refund, and it would require universities to remove a professor from the classroom if 10% or more of the students in that class complain about the professor’s comprehensibility. The Committee heard testimony earlier this week from supporters of the bill, offering stories of class-related problems stemming from incomprehensible professors. The Committee also heard testimony from detractors, arguing that many math and science graduate students (who end up TA’ing classes) are foreign and the more appropriate solution is to try to push more American students into math and the sciences, and that this proposed policy would provide a crutch for students who are failing a course to simply claim “I couldn’t understand what was going on” and thus be able to drop the course without any negative consequences. After hearing this testimony the Committee passed an amended version of the bill which calls for a task force, made of students, faculty and parents, to consider the issue in more depth.
Having been a college science major in my pre-law life, I can understand where some of these complaints are coming from. But at the same time, I never had any real difficulty understanding my professors. Hell, some of my worst college professors actually spoke perfect English. Maybe folks should be focusing more on getting good teachers into universities. Either that, or “Professor Knightley” has a nice ring to it. I’m just saying….
