Shift To “Dummies Series” Textbooks Reflect Changing Times Professors Say
After attending a national Educator’s Federation (EF) seminar over the spring break, many of Concordia’s professors say they are starting to think that the days of using traditional textbooks in the classroom are rapidly coming to an end.
We learned a lot in Madison last week, ”said Concordia math professor Rita Wehausen referring to the week she spent at the EF seminar. “After comparing notes with math professors from around the nation, I believe it is time many teachers considered switching over to the ‘Dummies Curriculum’.”
Wehausen was referring to the ever-popular “For Dummies” series of books, which have already taken over bookstore self-help section shelves and now may find their way into the classrooms of Concordia.
We can pretend our student’s aren’t dummies all we want,” explained history professor Lance Marcott, “but I think it’s high time we faced the truth that many of the students in our classrooms can safely be categorized as ‘dummies’, or worse. Our job as educators is to take these dummies and transform them into something better. In the meantime I will be using appropriate ‘For Dummies’ textbooks for my courses. They are all around easier to understand books and they have more pictures.”
Many professors agree with Marcott and Wehausen, but others are skeptical of the proposed change. “You can’t dumb-down every subject,” said Professor Gerald Galloway. “Certain subjects, even if you break them down into their most easily digestible form, are still hard. Anatomy and physiology, philosophy. I could go on all day.”
Proponents of the “For Dummies” series blew-off the criticisms. “There are ‘For Dummies’ books for every imaginable subject,” responded professor Marcott. “New York Times called the ‘For Dummies’ series a ‘sign of the times’, and I agree. We can’t continue to pretend we are living in a culture of enlightened people who can understand complicated stuff. This is the age of dummies and morons. As educators we must adapt to their educational needs accordingly .Oversimplifying complex issues and reducing enormous volumes of knowledge into brief, fun little definitions that rhyme is the best strategy for educating today’s college students.”