No more students, please.
Fried, frazzled, and barely functional.
Well, our keynote speaker at the opening festivities this year was no Hillary Clinton. No Bill Clinton, either. Not even a Joe Biden. Clearly, he was drawn to the crutch of Power Point because that was the only thing he had going for him. I suspect we paid him in the thousands but I don't dare ask.
He subscribed to the school of thought that I am rapidly labeling the Hollow Academic Bully.
Formula: I am going to stand in front of you, tell you what you should be doing, assert that my way is the best, and provide no empirical evidence or argumentation for doing so, and imply that there should be no need for discussion or debate.
Off run the administrators to figure out the best way to have faculty fulfill the assertions of the Hollow Academic Bully. (Time for duck and cover.)
Assertion: We must engage, personally, with our students to reduce our drop-out rates.
Administrative Response: A task force of faculty and administrators to pilot a program to call all students three times during the course of the semester to check on them. A second Pilot Program requiring all faculty to call students who experience a class absence in the first 3 weeks of the semester.
Oh well, the World's Slimiest Philosophy Professor will find it even easier to surf his students. Bully for him.
My learning experience: The World's Hottest Political Science Professor is not as good at Hostile Hangman as the World's Most Beautiful Sociology Professor. She would have, totally, got MURDER at three letters. Took him four. But then, I think he was, actually, trying to project the image that he was listening. Poor, baby.
Should I trackback this post to the doodling discussion?
Random "big-picture" "teaching anthropology" thoughts: why is failure not an option? Where is the message that to fail is to learn. Is it necessary that I stand in to solve every problem of our society? Does the buck stop on me only? How many more expectations are to be projected onto me? How can I maintain the objectivity necessary to grade these students if have a "personal" relationship with them? Can I handle the answer when I ask the question "where have you been?" Can I provide transport, psychological counseling, and motivation?
No doubt some sleep (and margaritas) will lead to a re-framing of these issues.
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2 comments:
I trust you're not suggesting that only administrators and educational consultants are responsbile for the hot air behind global warming. Just turn on any of the 24-hour "news" channels and experience the bloviating of the self-proclaimed "pundits," the denizens of the "think tanks," and the "reporters. (Sorry about all the quotes.) I wouldn't be surprised if all the ice in the Arctic is gone by November 1.
Oh dear, I hope there is enough left over for my margarita.
And I hope Barack has eaten his Wheaties today.
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