Professors of introductory courses at colleges and universities are more likely to influence an undergraduate to choosing a major than any other factor, Inside Higher Ed reported.
A boring or harsh teacher, or some negative experience, can turn a student away from a field based on one introductory course. Similarly, an encouraging or exciting teacher, or a positive learning experience in an introductory course, can just as easily cause an undergraduate to choose that field for a major.
The study appears in a paper in Christopher G. Takacs and Daniel F. Chambliss' upcoming book "How College Works."
The paper was presented by Takacs, a graduate student in sociology at the University of Chicago, and Chambliss, a professor of sociology at Hamilton College, at the American Sociological Association's annual meeting.
The researchers analyzed and kept tabs on 100 students' educational choices at an unnamed school. The students were interviewed about their educational plan before college and how it changed over the course of four years and how it translated to life post-graduation.
They believe the fundamental idea that undergraduates choose a major based on the career's financial benefits is flawed and that science and technology departments should focus more on teaching quality.
"Faculty determine students' taste for academic fields by acting as gatekeepers, either by welcoming them into an area of knowledge, encouraging and inspiring them to explore it, or by raising the costs of entry so high so as to effectively prohibit continuing in it," Takacs and Chambliss write. "Faculty can positively or negatively influence student taste for a field -- some compelling teachers can get students engaged in fields that they previously disliked, while other, more uncharismatic faculty can alienate students from entire bodies of knowledge, sometimes permanently."
The authors found students remembered the professor that inspired them to take their career path up to four years after graduating college. Students also remembered the teachers who bothered them in some way and said the quality of teaching affected their academic decisions.
"It's important for department chairs and deans to recognize who their more skilled teachers are, and the teachers they can use to draw students into certain majors," Takacs told Inside Higher Ed.
There is also great danger to losing a potential student to a bad course, because it could turn them off of the entire department. For example, a bad chemistry course could discourage a student from any other type of science.
"English and history can probably survive a bad course, but geology can't," Chambliss said, noting any course with a sequential course pattern, instead of being able to skip around, is more susceptible.
"Once they leave, they don't come back," he said. "It's important to do better in your intro course than in your capstone courses."
