Well, while in "retirement" these past two weeks, among other things, I've decided to get scrap off the moss on my stone and get it arollin', and to pull out the grass growing under my feet. Among other things, I've been dong more than toying with the idea of putting together a series of self-publishing e-books, the working series title of which is "'Careful' Teaching." Each volume is going to be a chronological, unedited (grammatical and spelling corrections only) collection of my Random Thoughts patterned after my previously four traditionally published collections. The first volume, however, is going to be a bit different from the previous four and the five that will follow. It's going to be a "dictionary" what will be composed of those Random Thoughts that were part of my "Words For My Dictionary of Good Teaching," that series which began with "water" in 1999 in response to a student's demand for guiding words and are peppered throughout the nearly 750 (a "whew" is in order at this point) Random Thoughts that followed over the years. At the thematic core of each word is what I call "three little, big words": faith, hope, and love.
As I started pulling out, reading, tweaking grammar and spelling only, and collecting these over sixty or so "wordy" reflections, I started thinking. Lately, there's been a lot of demanding and commanding on our campus and throughout the System. There's been a lot of ordering to put academic things in order. Yet, a lot of this ordering around has done littler other than to create a subtle, fearful, disorder. A lot of these institutional mission statements haven't made us into educational missionaries. A lot of these directives haven't directed us in the right direction. All this downward mandating of accountability, assessment, funding, retention, and tenure is just that: mandating. They tell us what to do, almost without a care of what we think or feel. There is a noticeable absence of extensive honest conversation, connection, community. A lot of talking; little listening. There seldom has been much effort at persuasion. Threat? Yes. Authoritarian authority? Yes. Managing? Yes. Leading?, No. Convincing? No. Empathy? No. If you were a fly on the wall, you'd hear in private conversations and departmental meetings that all this "ukase-ing" has put too many faculty into a survival "what do you want" and "what will they think" mode and has created an identity crisis that exacerbates an already fearful, risk-aversion climate. This may be hidden by the fact that such "thou shalt" edicts yield submissive "yes, sir" results, but they are reluctant, whispering, anxious, cynical, pessimistic, complaining compliance. Such commandments from on high, however, yield very little optimistic, enthusiastic, meaningful, and cooperative commitment. The real result is that so few people are biting at the bit game, are rarin' to get into the game, or are avidly in the game. The reason for this is that I don't know of a time when academia, at the classroom grunt level especially, had the crucial conversations with itself about what we are paid to do and just what business or businesses we are in. There's a lot of perception, a lot of expectation, a lot of finger pointing, a lot of denial, but not much honest soul searching. So, during these first two weeks of my retirement, as I went back over my archived "Words For My Dictionary of Good Teaching" I got to thinking about something Confucius supposedly said. To paraphrase him, in order to put academia in order, we must put our institutions in order; to put our institutions in order, we must put our schools or colleges in order; to put our schools or colleges in order, we must put our departments in order; to put our departments in order, we must put its faculty in order; to put its faculty in order, we, the faculty, must ourselves in order; to put ourselves in order, we must put our hearts in right order; to put our hearts in the right order, we must be committed to a shared vision beyond trite and cliche mission statements and authoritarian commands. To have a shared vision, we must reflect upon and articulate upon who we want to be. To put it another way, nothing we do will really change until we realize, accept, and work on changing our attitudes; and, we won't work on changing our attitudes until we have a true change of heart about who we are and who we want to be, as well as what business we are truly in. My one bright light of optimism, at least, on my campus, is the attitude of our new president, as well as that of our interim Provost. In the short few months that they have been their positions, I've come to believe they understand this. I believe they are collegial persuaders rather than aloof commanders. They know they've got to be in it for the long haul, . They're not playing the gimmick or bandwagon or fad game. They know that nothing worthwhile is either simple or easy or quick or instant. I'll repeat that: they know nothing worthwhile is either simple or easy or quick or instant. It's something that demands, more than anything else, the commitment, dedication, and perseverance of an arduous long haul overhaul of "why" rather than a quickie overnight delivery of "how" and "what." And, to say it's complicated or that it is hard should not be taken, as too often has been done in the past, by anyone as an excuse to do nothing. Now, since Susie and I are getting ready to haul out of here for two weeks of holiday grandmunchkin spoiling, we would like to wish each of you a happy, merry, and all that. May your Yule Log burn brightly and may your turn of the calendar portend a year of joy. See you around. Make it a good day -Louis- Louis Schmier http://www.therandomthoughts.edublogs.org<http://www.therandomthoughts.edublogs.org/> Department of History http://www.therandomthoughts.com<http://www.therandomthoughts.com/> Valdosta State University Valdosta, Georgia 31698 /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ (O) 229-333-5947 /^\\/ \/ \ /\/\__ / \ / \ (C) 229-630-0821 / \/ \_ \/ / \/ /\/ / \ /\ \ //\/\/ /\ \__/__/_/\_\/ \_/__\ \ /\"If you want to climb mountains,\ /\ _ / \ don't practice on mole hills" - / \_ --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. 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