Pre-Modern Teachings vs. Auto-Modern Teachings
Professor Robert Samuels
WRIT 109 SS
13 July 2012
Ratemyprofessor.com
With the advance of the World Wide Web and information technology, certain internet websites have gained mass popularity among college students. These websites such as ratemyprofessor.com, ratemyteacher.com, and ProfessorPerformance.com allow students to review and rate professors on an open board where students can freely view past criticisms to decide upon future classes. Not only do these professor reviews help the students prepare for class, but more importantly they give insight on the quality of a professor’s teaching and the contemporary student’s attitudes towards modern college academia. In this paper, the author will be analyzing several comments posted on Ratemyprofessor.com regarding an upper-division Accounting class, Econ 136C, taught by Professor Coby Harmon. Furthermore, the paper will rely on the concepts introduced by Dr. Kenneth J. Gergen and Jeremy Rifkin work, respectively “The Self in the Age of Information” and “A Post Modern Age,” in order to carefully dissect the attitudes of contemporary students and figure the psychology and social pressures that dictates their review. Before an accurate evaluation can be made, it is noteworthy to consider the particular nature of accounting lessons in comparison to other Liberal Arts. First of all, accounting is a subject of study that is heavily rules-based; meaning, students are tested on their knowledge of an already set accounting principle. In other words, since accounting entitles a sense of public obligation to be consistent and truthful to the doctrines there is often only one correct answer and any deviance from this is deemed wrong. This holds especially true in the profession of accounting, for a deviation in procedure can be infinitely costly and highly fraudulent. Consequently accounting as a subject requires a modern culture of education, in which there is less space for individual opinion or much discussion in
WRIT 109 SS
13 July 2012
Ratemyprofessor.com
With the advance of the World Wide Web and information technology, certain internet websites have gained mass popularity among college students. These websites such as ratemyprofessor.com, ratemyteacher.com, and ProfessorPerformance.com allow students to review and rate professors on an open board where students can freely view past criticisms to decide upon future classes. Not only do these professor reviews help the students prepare for class, but more importantly they give insight on the quality of a professor’s teaching and the contemporary student’s attitudes towards modern college academia. In this paper, the author will be analyzing several comments posted on Ratemyprofessor.com regarding an upper-division Accounting class, Econ 136C, taught by Professor Coby Harmon. Furthermore, the paper will rely on the concepts introduced by Dr. Kenneth J. Gergen and Jeremy Rifkin work, respectively “The Self in the Age of Information” and “A Post Modern Age,” in order to carefully dissect the attitudes of contemporary students and figure the psychology and social pressures that dictates their review. Before an accurate evaluation can be made, it is noteworthy to consider the particular nature of accounting lessons in comparison to other Liberal Arts. First of all, accounting is a subject of study that is heavily rules-based; meaning, students are tested on their knowledge of an already set accounting principle. In other words, since accounting entitles a sense of public obligation to be consistent and truthful to the doctrines there is often only one correct answer and any deviance from this is deemed wrong. This holds especially true in the profession of accounting, for a deviation in procedure can be infinitely costly and highly fraudulent. Consequently accounting as a subject requires a modern culture of education, in which there is less space for individual opinion or much discussion in