mel jacobson on tue 24 jan 12
there are amazing differences in college tenure, what is expected
of staff and how it is administered.
there is no simple answer.
a `land grant university` has a charter that will
spell out what is expected of professional staff.
often research and developement of ideas is the
forefront of that charter. in many institutions long
tenured faculty do not even teach...they do research.
and, philosphy is no different than science. (well sorta)
that may not have anything to do with a part time
teacher in a junior college.
private colleges have their own direction and in fact
could hire charles manson as a lecturer if they felt
the need.
part time staff is becoming the norm. they never get tenure.
art is the perfect example. that saves gobs of money. just fill
the hole in the schedule with a couple of adjuncts. throw them
out if they do not toe the line.
so. it is impossible to discuss this topic in a rational way.
there are far too many situations that differ dramatically.
bill schran could write a twenty five page paper on this topic.
he has lived this story for many years.
he barely gets enough money to teach his classes. he has very
good ways of making enough money to keep his kids working.
he is very creative in getting grants and extra funds. it is not
easy...almost a part time job for him.
there are many amazingly great teachers of clay out in the
big world, and there are dozens of lazy slobs that have tenure
and have not done a thing for years. some are famous, but they
sure don't teach. we applaud those that give their all every
day in the clay teaching world.
when i was teaching, there were three teachers in our building
that did not teach at all. total dorks, and had no intention
of retiring. they just sat in the lounge. read the paper and
talked to staff. no one lifted a finger to see them out the door.
i taught six classes a day, 190 students a day...and got the same
salary as those dorks. it does raise the hairs on your neck almost
every day. that system is broken. no one has the guts or time to
get rid of them. the staff even went to the admin to see what could
be done....they just shake their heads. `what can we do?` tenure.
that is where the adjustment must be made. all the evidence is
in the house, no one acts on it.
very few hard working professors, teachers or staff want lazy do nothing
people in the building or on the campus. it is a waste of limited resource=
s.
the university of minnesota has hundreds of people that have
no job description. they just float through life. millions of dollars
wasted. no one does a thing. `it is the way it is`. they become
the states big black money hole.
mel
from: minnetonka, mn
website: http://www.visi.com/~melpots/
clayart link: http://www.visi.com/~melpots/clayart.html
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