TIPSters, Thank you for your responses to my questions about the meaning and practice of "student centered." I appreciated both the on- and off-list messages. To summarize: I got the impression that many of us feel a bit of cognitive dissonance over this issue. Both the cynical view and the optimistic view battle for prominence in our minds and hearts. I think, or hope, that we still strive to do the best we can for our students. "Student centered" can mean doing everything that we can to develop our students intellectually, socially, and ethically. Our words must match our deeds, and this has to happen everywhere: in the classrooms, during our office hours, in the bursar's/registrar's/admissions offices, in the cafeterias, and so on. It seems to me that the cynical view(s) stem from "market forces," if you will: Colleges are competing for the best students, and in some cases, just for any students. Faculty feel like they are competing for scarce, tenured posts which may hinge upon results of (misuse of?) student evaluation data. Adminstrators place subtle (or not-so-subtle) pressure on faculty to fill their classes by giving students what they want (or what they think they want; thanks to Gary's human factors perspective here). Unfortunately, I did not see many solutions being offered from TIPSters, nor do I have many to recommend. But I believe that we strive to do what is best for our students every day; there is an enormous amount of intrinsic motivation within us. We change "the system" by what we do in our classrooms, and in all of the settings I mentioned above. We serve on committees that afford us opportunities to effect more systemic changes. In some cases, my own "past life" included, we simply refuse to participate in systems that corrupt the ideal meaning of "student centered." For now, I'll close by proudly saying, "Love ya Lions!" Barbara Dr. Barbara Watters Penn State Erie, The Behrend College School of Humanities and Social Sciences Station Road Erie, PA 16563 [EMAIL PROTECTED]
