Time for Educationpalooza!

What, according to the comments on RateMyProfessor.com, should a professor do to win the favor of students? Slate provides a convenient summary:

Don't play favorites, yet don't deny students extra credit or a second chance on a paper or test. Don't "get sidetracked by boring crap." Don't refer to yourself in the third person. Don't ever call on students. Don't be "mean," "hateful," or "ambiguous." Don't take attendance. Don't be "high on Viagra and full of yourself." Don't be "distractingly spastic." Very important: Don't talk about stuff in class and then put other stuff on the test. Most important: Don't give low grades. Do show slides. Do offer easy assignments. Do crack jokes and "provide a fun teaching atmosphere." Do show up at your office hours. Do give A's on all group projects. Do walk your dog around campus. Do resemble a celebrity of some sort. Finally, try your best to be "awesome."

What should college students be learning? Slate's symposium features several scholars' answers. My favorites are by Princeton's K. Anthony Appiah--learn to "evaluate mathematical models or statistical arguments", and see a bit of the world--and Berkeley's Alison Gopnik--make students attempt real research.

What should students who want to be engineers do? Insist on better teaching.

Finally, what personnel policy is shared by the Catholic Church and the New York City public schools?