My apology for offending anyone in my comment on one reason why teaching
doesn't have the lustre it once had as a "noble calling."  Adrienne is
clearly overworked and under-recognized -- par for the course in the current
academic environment.   That is another example of what I was hoping to
convey -- it is hard to see working in an assembly line as a "noble
calling."  Far too many state universities are seen by politicians and
public as diploma factories -- the more degrees handed out, the better.
Adrienne doesn't address the question of whether the senior and tenured
faculty at her university are as overwhelmed as she is.  The examples of
professors who give short shrift to teaching came from state universities,
some of which are old and just as prestigious as the 'Ivies.'   Go to the
east, Adrienne!  Again, my apology.

Ross Weeks Jr.


----- Original Message -----
From: Adrienne DeAngelis <[log in to unmask]>

> I'm sorry, this (excerpt below) is just not the case for most faculty and
> depends on old prejudices and extraordinarily outdated assumptions about
> what it is to be a prof.

snip snip

>>>>>>>Please understand that the vast majority of
> students attend and faculty teach at state universities.  What may be
> happening at Harvard, Yale, or Princeton has no relation with what goes on
> at state universities, although a big problem at the latter is the
> delusional attempts by some to run their programs along Ivy League
> guidelines with budgets and staffing that are sometimes inferior,
> proportionally, to that of the local community college.


>>>>>>>>> On Sat, 25 Mar 2000, Ross Weeks wrote:
>
> > I think teaching as a "noble position" goes back years when the work
> > involved much self-sacrifice -- mainly financial.
> >
> > Nowadays there may be far too many professors who subordinate their
teaching
> > responsibilities to the pursuits of research, writing, consulting and
even
> > sideline businesses.  They are relatively well paid in many institutions
for
> > teaching loads that have declined to just two or maybe three courses per
> > semester.  (In a great many others, that decline has not occurred and
salary
> > scales are still unacceptably low.)  The pressure to show academic
> > productivity (research, publishing, etc.) is well known -- the "publish
or
> > perish" syndrome of the last few decades.

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