tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post6137499458078371046..comments2023-10-15T04:23:50.187-04:00Comments on College Misery: A Two Part Big Thirsty From Albert the Adjunct. Welcome to the Bungle.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger17125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-81079601623458173362015-08-31T21:36:18.027-04:002015-08-31T21:36:18.027-04:00A few days back, Jonathan Dresner remarked "B...A few days back, <a href="http://collegemisery.blogspot.com/2015/08/wheres-shame-friday-thirsty-from-hiram.html?showComment=1439613226555#c2659595759857157518" rel="nofollow">Jonathan Dresner remarked</a> "But it's a long game."<br /><br />I retain some hope that if we can survive, the inevitable tides of society will change things somehow for the better. The alternative is for me Ogre Proctor Hephttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17428431147495287413noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-89273098780155900012015-08-31T12:12:19.517-04:002015-08-31T12:12:19.517-04:00I know a very skilled elementary school teacher wh...I know a very skilled elementary school teacher who just quit her job because she was sick of the rules she has to follow that were set by administrative people who have no teaching experience.<br /><br />It seems that the question is not whether I can survive this type of environment; the question is whether society can survive.Albert the Adjuncthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04508821586332692059noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-73712269516988671482015-08-31T07:52:28.787-04:002015-08-31T07:52:28.787-04:00I'll tell you what happened. Circa the 1980s, ...I'll tell you what happened. Circa the 1980s, a school of thought emerged in the business world that a good manager could be the manager of <i>anything</i> and didn't actually need to know the intricacies of the business or the products it delivered. This is of course bullshit, but the idea propagated into education nonetheless.<br /><br />We have since seen the rise of the class of Ogre Proctor Hephttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17428431147495287413noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-29699779430218551272015-08-29T09:36:08.557-04:002015-08-29T09:36:08.557-04:00And of course they make great use of office hours ...And of course they make great use of office hours to ask questions *rolls eyes*Frennahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17126693773120200776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-51972540187376772452015-08-29T03:51:24.113-04:002015-08-29T03:51:24.113-04:00Albert, your experience is NOT uncommon. Students ...Albert, your experience is NOT uncommon. Students sometimes have questions, but don't ask them. It's been, in my experience, a result of how open they see the instructor.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-34287330915753875322015-08-28T22:27:32.016-04:002015-08-28T22:27:32.016-04:00It depends or that is the case in my experience. ...It depends or that is the case in my experience. I was an adjunct at a private U and a community college. It was not an elite private U, so the students at both schools were comparable. Except, the community college had more nontraditional students. These nontraditional students will usually ask questions and speak up when they do not understand, then magically others will ask questions. It Frennahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17126693773120200776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-79066529425939577832015-08-28T13:55:23.413-04:002015-08-28T13:55:23.413-04:00Hiram Hannah, I am a modern student, from Generati...Hiram Hannah, I am a modern student, from Generation X. But I can't remember ever being in a classroom in college or grad school where nobody asked questions. Of course, not everyone asked questions, but there were always a few who would.<br /><br />Yet in my classroom last semester, I rarely got questions about the subject matter that I was teaching.. I felt like I was lecturing to a wall. Albert the Adjuncthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04508821586332692059noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-56868195313532794702015-08-28T04:50:46.583-04:002015-08-28T04:50:46.583-04:00Modern students NEVER ask questions when they'...Modern students NEVER ask questions when they're confused. They stew, put it on the site that shall not be named, or they tell their pals, OR they'll tell their parents how you fucked them up with your stupid teaching.<br /><br />Your perception about them is probably right. They have come to us in the age of edutainment.<br /><br />You've put your heart into a game where a paper Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-46475978772988817192015-08-28T04:44:37.856-04:002015-08-28T04:44:37.856-04:00From Albert:
To answer Three Sigma's question...<i>From Albert:</i><br /><br />To answer Three Sigma's question as to what they were all saying, they essentially said my lectures were not so great. However, if this were true, then why didn't they see me during my office hours or email me so I could answer any questions they had? Hardly anyone ever did. Why did they hardly ever ask questions in class? And how did they get a majority of College Miseryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01371354682300032653noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-53590859205353006072015-08-27T18:53:13.045-04:002015-08-27T18:53:13.045-04:00Man, Albert, where to begin. It's a fucking me...Man, Albert, where to begin. It's a fucking mess, my brother. The comments above are all right. <br /><br />I have some pals in the adjunct world, and some I really like have just admitted: "It's more important to me to keep this job than it is to hold the line against grade inflation all on my own." So they offer moderately difficult classes with lots of extra credit offered - Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-20679072991012232162015-08-27T17:50:30.277-04:002015-08-27T17:50:30.277-04:00I randomly featured in a youtube video that went q...I randomly featured in a youtube video that went quasi-viral (I got to shake the hand of a quasi-famous actor) who was advertising his new show with a silly hashtag, and the students found it, and we had a laugh, and then two months later most of my evals just had the #blahblah on it.<br /><br />Otherwise I agree with the usual "he's too X," "he's not X enough" formula.Chicago Charliehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08636688986941621951noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-78197662516087644692015-08-27T12:59:19.023-04:002015-08-27T12:59:19.023-04:00Q 1: I stopped reading my student evaluations when...Q 1: I stopped reading my student evaluations when I got tenure. And during the time that I read them, not once was there any constructive criticism that was useful. I was fair. I wasn't fair. I showed favoritism. I didn't like male students. I was hard on female students. I taught irrelevant material. There were semesters where a particular student would campaign and get other students Karen Ackoffhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01527412523732265688noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-58892280104224337482015-08-27T11:09:38.012-04:002015-08-27T11:09:38.012-04:00I'm going to delve into my decades-ago undergr...I'm going to delve into my decades-ago undergrad experience to answer question number two; please don't judge me by my answer.<br /><br />My undergrad self would've put as little effort as possible into a writing assignment for a math course because my thought process was, "This is a math class. You're a math professor, not an English professor. You likely don't know Sawyer in Student Serviceshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16463333151790071057noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-83301244272909036152015-08-27T09:43:40.668-04:002015-08-27T09:43:40.668-04:00Blogger ate my comment; short recap:
Q1, subques...Blogger ate my comment; short recap: <br /><br />Q1, subquestion 1: it depends on your institution. The more additional criteria for evaluation are in place (e.g. class visits, evaluation of course materials, etc.), the less the evals are likely to count (though administrators can still fixate on them). The other factor is how easily you can be replaced; being in math may work in your favor Contingent Cassandrahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08161652083031423415noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-86206108549472903062015-08-27T09:37:44.364-04:002015-08-27T09:37:44.364-04:00What is the consistent thing they are all saying? ...What is the consistent thing they are all saying? <br /><br />In my experience, you get consistent results mainly when the students talk to each other a lot. That's usually a good thing in a class - it means they're working together - but it also means they create narratives that get amplified by confirmation bias. That doesn't mean that the narrative is necessarily wrong, just that Three Sigmahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10822893039310439770noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-87086114393306278572015-08-27T02:07:33.980-04:002015-08-27T02:07:33.980-04:00Frod:
Much of what you wrote sounds familiar to m...Frod:<br /><br />Much of what you wrote sounds familiar to me. I went through much of the same nonsense while I was teaching.<br /><br />I'm sure that my last department head wasn't in the least bit concerned about whether my student evaluations were ever used to change or improve things in my courses.<br /><br />He was, however, greatly interested in using what the students wrote about Quarter Wave Verticalhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03173446011323023116noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-86509711309915431742015-08-27T00:53:17.442-04:002015-08-27T00:53:17.442-04:00(A1) This was discussed at length in the 1996 book...(A1) This was discussed at length in the 1996 book "Generation X Goes to College," by Peter Sacks. Your career as an adjunct professor very well may depend on the anonymous evaluation of your students, depending on the weight your department Chair and Dean give to them. During my first year of teaching, I had a Chair who would call me into his office, read each evaluation to me, yell atFroderick Frankenstien from Fresnohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11653942918068535424noreply@blogger.com