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beernut88 
Member since Mar 15, 2017

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Re: “Hard Lesson: A UVM Econ Prof Fights to Keep His Job”

I've had Prof. Summa as a teacher numerous times, and though he is a smart man with a passion for alternative theories of economics, I found his teaching extremely lacking. In one seminar class, it quickly became clear that the thesis of the class had been laid out in the first few classes, and that every subsequent class would just serve to reinforce the original ideas put forth. His teaching style emphasized student engagement for engagement's sake, often going around the room and having each student contribute several thoughts on the topic. While not in and of itself a bad idea, this led to contrived discussions that were often repetitive and rarely productive. In another class focusing on statistical models, his teaching was often more confusing than the texts that we would read. Had I not taken a similar class previously, it would have been impossible to succeed in that environment. Though I performed well in each of those classes, I can echo Prof. Solnick's comments, and indeed did in my own student evaluations. He is a good man, and it is unfortunate that this dispute has turned so nasty. I fear that these cries for academic freedom may merely result in less ideologically diverse hiring practices moving forward. While I agree vehemently with him ideologically, I feel that there are better people to carry the flag against the standard model, even within UVM's Econ department.

28 likes, 20 dislikes
Posted by beernut88 on 03/15/2017 at 3:45 PM

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