The Case for Minimum Teaching Standards

Author's Note: The following was sent to the Wharton faculty in November, 1989, challenging a set of proposals by the Wharton Teaching Committee.1 The committee's proposal was presented as an "all or nothing" choice. Despite a substantial amount of support for the position stated below, the Wharton Committee recommendations were passed as originally proposed; this includes punitive measures for faculty who get low ratings (referred to below as the committee's Proposal #1). The proposals said that for tenure or promotion, a faculty member must get better than an "average" rating (3.0 on a five point scale). The vote was close. It seems likely that Proposal #1 would have been defeated had a secret ballot been conducted on this item alone. Action was not taken on any of the nine proposals in my paper, and neither of the proposals on process were accepted. Since that time, faculty from other schools have read the memo and suggested that it be reprinted in Almanac in order to gain further faculty comment. They are concerned that similar events in their schools may affect the quality of the educational environment.