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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]It's also highly likely that a kid who goes to a college like Harvard or Chicago or Hopkins hoping to learn to write well and think critically will get to know at least a few professors well. Most professors are eager to share their intellectual passion with students who are interested in learning.  [/quote]

Actually, that's not what I hear from the students I know currently at Harvard and Chicago.  [/quote]

I guess we know different kids.[/quote]

At any research university profs will focus on grad students.  [/quote]

Not true -- I've been the undergrad, the grad student, and the prof in a number of such universities and that's not what I've seen or experienced in any of them.  It's not what I'm seeing as a parent either.

Nor, as a prof, have I seen anything that indicates that kids who go to LACs end up with better writing or critical thinking skills.  Seems to depend more on the student than the school.  And it's not the case that the best teachers gravitate to LACs.  So many other factors determine which available job is most attractive one.

Yes, some good teachers (and some good researchers for that matter) get lost in the tenure process at major research universities.  But by focussing less on research, LACs don't necessarily tenure better teachers.  No one's measuring (and other faculty rarely observe) how well profs teach.  They're looking at student reviews, and what students like in a course (or about a professor) may or may not involve learning to write well or think critically.  So we're back to student satisfaction is the goal of LACs -- not a superior education.  [/quote]

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