Well, I know I am about to get into trouble, but I've got to put my words to Barbara in my mouth. I want to mention things, point out few elephants in the room, that most of us academics prefer to ignore. My friend, Linc Fish, attended conferences with a brilliant red, oversized t-shirt in his suitcase. He'd carried it to conference sessions, and when he wanted to poke a hole in a presentation or raise a pointed question, he would put the shirt on over what he was wearing. When he did that, those who knew him, knew a penetrating probe was about to be respectfully launched. You, see, on his shirt were emblazoned the words in a font you could not miss: "Devil's Advocate." Then, he assumed the role of a positive contrarian, sometimes a constructive naysayer. Many a presenter shivered and quivered when they saw Linc in the audience. Others would have an anticipating smile. He was not hesitant to point to the ignored elephant in the room; he was not reluctant to show that the presenter had no clothes; he would come with pins to pop balloons. All done graciously, respectfully, and constructively, mind you, all done graciously, respectfully, and constructive. His ego was never in his comments. So, in the spirit of Linc, there goes. On goes my blazing red "Devil's Advocate" shirt. There is a huge herd of elephants in the room, a huge herd. Here are some, and only some, of them:
Elephant #1: However we proclaim ourselves to be independent thinkers and that we hold classroom academic freedom tightly as if we were tree-huggers in an old growth forest, independence and audacity in the classroom are rare academic virtues. Acting innovative, bold, adventurous, thinking anew, are not common names of the classroom games. Rather, timidity is. Far too often there is a blind veneration to their own experience with a "this is how I was taught" or a "we've always done it this way." Too many put a condom on the classroom and engage in "safe teaching." Fear, restrictive and obstructive and even paralyzing fear, especially fear of supposed failure and fear of what others may think, and fear of adverse impact on the quest for tenure, is a much more prevalent vice. Risk-taking is so rare that at the beginning of Fall semester my Dean challenged us, goaded us, prodded us to go after a "Giraffe Award" to be given to the A & S faculty member who sticks her/his classroom neck out the farthest. I wonder if she remembers. Elephant #2: If we talk of "student needs," do we really know who each student is, and the ins and outs of what they truly need? Do we really know what is going on in their minds and heart? Do we really care? Or, are we resting on assumptions, preconceptions, generalizations, stereotypes, and perceptions, as well as those of others? Elephant #3: All of the academic world is abuzz because of events at Thomas Jefferson's UVA. But, all I hear and read about is a discussion of credentialing for making a living. Where's the discussion of credentialing for living the good life? Without that discussion, what, then, makes institutions of "higher education" or "higher learning" higher as opposed to being "white collar vo-tech" institutions? Elephant #4: About conferences. Why is there a running joke, that has an underlying seriousness to it, that the more-often-than-not results of most conferences and campus workshops, is that the pile of unread conference and workshop handouts in the office corner grows higher? That's point to the critical role the TLCs on those campuses that have them--and truly support them--as "follow-uppers," trainers, supporters, encouragers. On those campuses without TLCs, well.... Elephant #5: About student, parent, and society wants, why don't we listen to Henry Ford, ""if I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses." But, to deal with this elephant, we'd have to get to know each student, and her or him what she or he feels are her or his needs and wants. Education, on both sides of the podia, is far more psychological and emotional than most people think. Elephant #6: We accept an uninformed, unprepared, and untrained amateurism when it comes to classroom teaching that we would totally and unequivocally reject in the archive, museum, lab, and out in the field. Professors are intensely trained in the discipline as future research and publishing scholars, not as future classroom teachers. Oh, we talk a wonderful talk about our respect for and dedication to good teaching, but we firmly walk--power walk--research and publication. We talk of an "and" between teaching and scholarship, but when it comes to hiring, promoting, appointing, tenuring it's more of an "either/or" with teaching taking a back seat. Elephant #7: Why is it loudly demanded that we professors be up on the latest research in our discipline, but there is near total silence about and acceptance of a lack of knowledge when it comes to a demand for being up-to-date in the latest research on what I call "brainology" on which teaching and learning rest? Elephant #8: How many professors take student evaluations so seriously that they change their the ways of their courses? Elephant #9: How many administrators use student evaluations as negative bludgeons rather as positive instruments for improvements? How many listen when Richard Deming says that 97% of what matters cannot be measured? Elephant #10: How is it we talk of "classroom management" rather than "classroom leadership?" There is a difference, you know Elephant #11: How is that faculty on a campus and students in a classroom reluctantly and often resentfully comply to edicts from on high rather than have a conversation and become committed to what is called a "shared vision?" Seldom read, empty worded mission statements tend to follow Macbeth's soliloquy, "full of sound and fury, signifying nothing." I've never heard of a mission statement changing the course of an academic course. That's the true meaning of the statement by Zell Miller, Georgia's past governor and professor of history: "It's easier to change the course of history than a history course." Elephant #12: In spite of the recent findings of "brainologists" on teaching and learning, most professors cling tightly to the myths about tests, grades, lectures, note-taking, that is, the way they were taught,etc. Too many of us are at best "tweakers" and "sustainers" of what we already do, rather than "adventurers" and "disrupters." --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=18822 or send a blank email to leave-18822-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
