tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16010478.post6794415499656174865..comments2024-03-22T02:57:20.853-07:00Comments on Center of Gravitas: Teach It!GayProfhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11289510184782252498noreply@blogger.comBlogger16125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16010478.post-18632409676227304532010-02-24T20:03:02.189-08:002010-02-24T20:03:02.189-08:00OK, I'm agreeing with much of what you say her...OK, I'm agreeing with much of what you say here. . . except I'm so. damn. tired. of everyone beating up on teaching centers. Maybe it's because I work for one, and I'm tired of people dismissing my ten years in the college classroom and my expertise in pedagogy, not to mention my colleagues' decades of experience in teaching and commitment to research about teaching. Grrrrrr.<br /><br />I can tell you that the teaching center where I work has been around longer than I've been alive and has made a positive impact on teaching on this campus--a campus where many science profs show up with ZERO teaching experience and are expected to teach courses of 300 or more students. And yes, since you bring it up, my colleagues and I understand student evaluations of teaching generally rate instructor personality and students' perceptions of their grades in the course rather than measure any actual learning. We'd love to change the questions asked on them, but we meet a good deal of faculty resistance when we suggest as much.<br /><br />With university budget cuts, we're now losing a teaching consultant with 20 years of teaching experience, and I suspect my and my colleagues' positions will go soon. (Thankfully I just landed a t-t job elsewhere.) When the budget hit the skids, the university's dedication to teaching and learning was among the first casualties; I don't feel it's even paying lip service to the quality of teaching anymore--in fact, our chancellor routinely leaves the word "teaching" out of her vision statements and speeches. But I want to make one thing clear: at my university, the decline of a teaching center, and not its presence, is a clear sign of institutional rot.Leslie M-Bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02434392840359276805noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16010478.post-57175574217178293402010-02-24T12:54:26.009-08:002010-02-24T12:54:26.009-08:00Here here Gayprof. Very well-said. I remember be...Here here Gayprof. Very well-said. I remember being asked "what are you going to do with a major like that?" when I was finishing my English Lit. degree, as if it was limiting. <br /><br />I don't agree with Frank; an English (or history, etc.) degree can open all kinds of doors. We are the ones who can put a sentence together. Hell, we can actually make a point, give evidence, and explain ourselves clearly.<br /><br />Concentrated thought, on one topic at a time, is disappearing on a day-to-day basis; humanities is one place where it continues and is celebrated.Rebekahhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03167931093068823806noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16010478.post-37880512963746520932010-02-24T09:06:41.434-08:002010-02-24T09:06:41.434-08:00It was not until I got my first real job that I ha...It was not until I got my first real job that I had the experience of meeting with prospective students and THEIR PARENTS. This was new to me but is something that I now have to do about once per semester (and that as a department we do pretty regularly). Which means I need to explain to them why it's perfectly OK for Susie or Jimmy to major in History and why -- current economy notwithstanding -- ze will still be able to find employment upon graduation even with a degree studying old stuff. <br /><br />In addition to what you say here I also try to emphasize that in History (but also in all the other disciplines in the Humanities) we teach students to think, to write, to argue, to analyze, to communicate. And that employers will want those skills. But that they need me to justify this is proof of exactly the phenomenon you describe, particularly for people who did not themselves go to college (as is the case for many of my students' parents) and so don't know that many people (with the exception of academics) don't "use" their major in their jobs in ways that are very obvious. In other words, it's clear that pre-professionalism is winning.Blakehttp://www.downandoutindenver.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16010478.post-86366134936484880422010-02-23T16:14:56.372-08:002010-02-23T16:14:56.372-08:00Like you, I think the humanities, and the uni, pro...Like you, I think the humanities, and the uni, provide far greater rewards than can be measured by one's paycheck after a degree and the identity studies programs in particular create critical paradigm shifts on and off campus. But I also think that people are playing off of current economic fears to blame the uni for intersecting series of problems with cost, financing, and air tight loan agreements coupled with expectations about [econ] value & educational envy on the job market. In other words, easier to say "It's those race obsessed ES Departments/ those unshaven feminist man haters in WS/etc. that are costing me &/or my child our future" than it is to deal with an interlocking system that works to undo critical thinking based studies precisely b/c of the questions they raise while benefiting economically from their continued existence.susurronoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16010478.post-89664388060609921242010-02-23T08:21:08.548-08:002010-02-23T08:21:08.548-08:00Crisis in the humanities, indeed.
I thought that t...Crisis in the humanities, indeed.<br />I thought that the present crisis was in the economy?<br />And that it (in the Midwest, at least) had something to do with the failings of the industry whose foundations were laid by a man who famously claimed that "history is bunk"?<br /><br />This present slide toward market-driven evaluations of professorial performance worries me. While I understand why universities do it, I don't think that it serves student interests in the end. The undergrad courses I took which best prepared me for grad school were not the most entertaining, to put it mildly.<br /><br />Good to have you back, BTW.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16010478.post-19227412076471257792010-02-21T18:38:37.545-08:002010-02-21T18:38:37.545-08:00Torn: While I might have many shortages, opinions ...<b>Torn:</b> While I might have many shortages, opinions isn't one of them. If only I had more time to vent them onto my little bloggy!<br /><br /><b>HistoriAnn:</b> My paternal grandmother would be very proud to know that I never leave the house without a crisply ironed shirt, thank you very much.<br /><br /><b>Susan:</b> I had imagined that the current economic fiasco would actually have undermined business schools, economics, and finance departments. Clearly our nation's financial leaders did not learn much wisdom in their college education. So, why not allow the humanities to return as a dominant force?GayProfhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11289510184782252498noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16010478.post-11596325077086351692010-02-20T07:56:57.927-08:002010-02-20T07:56:57.927-08:00Great post. And I'm going to crib from your c...Great post. And I'm going to crib from your comments about the role of the humanities in producing thoughtful citizens. (I've used the phrase "empathic imagination" as I argue for positions.) This is an argument I am making all the time -- that value is not just the immediate patents, grants, etc.<br /><br />In reality, most businesses DO value the humanities, because usually our students can write, and since the technology will change in a few years, writing and thinking are more useful skills...Susanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09716705206734059708noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16010478.post-54949778357945846062010-02-19T18:09:04.249-08:002010-02-19T18:09:04.249-08:00tornwordo: I should hope you're better dresse...tornwordo: I should hope you're better dressed than the guy who wore a sweatshirt and sweatpants every day of class! Now, that's an image to try to forget. <br /><br />Were they a matching set? Bonus points for that! (Wasn't it a Seinfeld episode when George was unemployed and wearing a matching sweatshirt and sweatpants every day, and Jerry said, "Now, that's a sign that you've just given up."Historiannhttp://historiann.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16010478.post-28431539433047039782010-02-19T14:26:40.995-08:002010-02-19T14:26:40.995-08:00I love it when you write an opinion piece. State t...I love it when you write an opinion piece. State the opinion, support it in various (and often amusing) ways, and conclude by restating it. I was teaching that this morning. You do it much better than I though. <br /><br />As for my university experience. I think the most useful part was learning how to navigate a bloated and contradictory bureaucracy. I remember few profs. I do remember the guy that wore a gray sweatshirt and sweatpants every day. Of course my major was as useless as they come - drama. Still, I use elements learned at that time in my teaching. I'm the clowny teacher, but that works in ESL.tornwordohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16581361982939423598noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16010478.post-80254054977959529872010-02-19T08:05:09.000-08:002010-02-19T08:05:09.000-08:00ROG: I had secretly hoped that the economic crash ...<b>ROG:</b> I had secretly hoped that the economic crash would generate a new level of scrutiny towards our current values and obsessions with wealth. Maybe, I thought, we would see a flourishing of the arts and humanities. Alas, it seems to have had the opposite effect. <br /><br /><b>Mel:</b> I think the ones without the heaters are the "fuel efficient" models. They can get up to 9 MPG!<br /><br /><b>Janice:</b> BMU has embraced the bean-counter mentality at a scary level. I do think that it will only escalate the divide between "public" (Or in BMU's case, quasi-public) institutions and private ones.<br /><br /><b>Pacalaga:</b> Well, the important thing is that you read my blog now. And, really, isn't this the same as a four year humanities education?<br /><br /><b>Frank:</b> I tend to think that if universities came to the defense of the humanities, then so also the business world would begin to see that such degrees do have value. But, look at me, assuming that the business world operates off of ideas of "value."<br /><br /><b>HistoriAnn:</b> It might be nice, too, if our contracts gave us all of our salary for the next ten years if one of our classes was replaced by another professor.GayProfhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11289510184782252498noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16010478.post-17481078289000983122010-02-19T04:55:19.386-08:002010-02-19T04:55:19.386-08:00Excellent work as always, GayProf. (Thanks for th...Excellent work as always, GayProf. (Thanks for the h/t too!) I really like your point about how the tough and not-so-funny proffies taught the classes that are still with you today, but that the fun classes vanished from your brain.<br /><br />If in fact we are more entertaining than Jay Leno (and who isn't??), why don't we make more money? I ask this in all seriousness because it gets to the value system you decry here--that making money justifies itself, and if you don't make money, then there is no other value in your work.<br /><br />(Harumph.)Historiannhttp://historiann.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16010478.post-42249165533305998162010-02-18T18:15:48.343-08:002010-02-18T18:15:48.343-08:00I do have some sympathy for those who want "r...I do have some sympathy for those who want "relevance," since, as an English major, I'm pretty much qualified for nothing, but at the same time, I simply can't imagine taking accounting or law just to have a job. I hate work as it is; if I hated the basic subject, too, I'd turn to drink. There is also the little thing of expanding horizons and transmitting the wisdom of the ages, too.Frankhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03301077496668834657noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16010478.post-3031056689972365482010-02-18T16:49:33.314-08:002010-02-18T16:49:33.314-08:00I can't speak to any of that, since I was an e...I can't speak to any of that, since I was an engineering major and as such, was only required to take 12 units of Humanities. And you can bet I didn't take anything where I was required to *read*.pacalagahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12498703982601315908noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16010478.post-83251834522284422602010-02-18T14:01:30.721-08:002010-02-18T14:01:30.721-08:00They actually need a literature department to teac...They actually need a literature department to teach students networking and interviewing techniques? You're right -- what's the business school doing? (Obviously, contemplating their own highly polished navels.)<br /><br />Of course, that NYT article is also very disingenous. Michigan State University saw declining numbers of classics majors but more than sustaining levels of classics students. The importance of maintaining elective choice in university education goes right on past the noses of such bean-counters who are sure that the humanities and social sciences are nothing but irrelevant filler disciplines.<br /><br />Bah!Janicehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14093558563358431804noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16010478.post-29708076418181751262010-02-18T11:47:36.974-08:002010-02-18T11:47:36.974-08:00You mean there are actually SUVs out there without...You mean there are actually SUVs out there without heated seats?! Oh those poor destitute souls. My heart bleeds, I tells ya.Melhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18047049720897209506noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16010478.post-74193739739728895262010-02-18T11:36:41.183-08:002010-02-18T11:36:41.183-08:00Look, GayProf - ya gotta send those kids out there...Look, GayProf - ya gotta send those kids out there to fulfill the market's need for working drones. Sounds like you want them to THINK, have a historic and cultural underpining, and maybe even be intellectually rigorous. This is totally inappropriate, particularly in a recession.Roger Owen Greenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05298172138307632062noreply@blogger.com