Panel Speaks About Teaching Small Courses

"Small group teaching is distinctly bourgeois," Samuel H. Beer, Eaton Professor of the Science of Government, said yesterday at a panel talk on "Leading Small Group Discussions." About 100 people attended the discussion, sponsored by the Harvard-Danforth Center for Teaching and Learning.

Beer said he is skeptical about the value of small group teaching. Small classes are a good introduction to the competitive world where one is trained for "government by committee and how to be a better member of Faculty Council," he said. Students learn that "the person who comes prepared wins," Beer said.

George W. Goethals '43, Senior Lecturer on Psychology, said he sees the small course as an oportunity for students to teach each other, encouraged by the section leader, who "should never let them settle in to any particular habits."

The Right to Remain Silent

"That's trying too hard," Beer said, adding "there's no reason to force a non-talker to talk. The problem is that some students are more able than others."

"More able at playing classroom games," Christensen added.

"It's the teaching assistants' job to make sure that the bigger sharks don't eat up the little ones," Christensen said.

Beer replied, "But our students don't attack one another--they only do that at the Law School and Business School."