an interesting tidbit

[andrea nelson]

In response to Paul.

I think that many people outside the academy have stereotypes in mind when
they think of the tenured faculty member.  It has been my experience with
many in the "public" that, due to whatever bad experiences they may have
had, they view tenured professors 1) as people they don't see until they are
seniors (if they are lucky) and 2) as people who are so much involved in
their own scholarship that they have little interest in or time for the
classroom or those sitting in it.  Although I understand the reasons for
their involvement in scholarly pursuits which may at times seem removed from
the lives of students, reasons which include building a knowledge base for a
field and even pushing the envelope of that field's knowledge, I
nevertheless feel that some/many professors in the past and now have and do,
through no fault of their own, often from pressure to get tenure ("publish
or perish") focus much more on their own scholarship and keeping up with
their fields than with teaching.  I know that I am not saying anything new,
but I think that the stereotype of the aloof and disconnected professor who
lives in an ivory tower and may have summers off and a month at Christmas is
probably tattooed on the brains of many people in the "public" and as such
is a source of envy and frustration.  In some respects it is an accurate
picture. In some respects I suppose we can't expect the average joe or jane
to appreciate all the different kinds of work that we do.  But we really
must fight against the tide of conservatism and pragmatism that seems to be
affecting many areas of the humanities and, as I said earlier, try to
passionately promote and protect our particular areas from budget cuts.
Budget cuts and disinterest come from many sources, but I agree with Donnie
that in the end it stems from the public.  I don't think there will be any
magic pill that we can administer to the profession or the public which will
change things.  But, I do think that we can start by lobbying our
congresspeople and representatives at the local and national levels AND also
by carrying on discussions about how to gain and retain student enrollments.
I think this latter discussion is critical and I also would not discount the
power of "word of mouth" among students about various courses and
departments.  They will sign up if they know that they are going to get
something interesting AND useful to their lives.  So, we need to reach them
through our courses.  Dropping enrollments are the surest way of losing
t.a.ships and other funding from administrators.  Therefore, we really need
to concentrate on things like curriculum development, teaching.  Who are the
maverick TEACHERS in our field????  Let's find them and learn fromthem.  We
need to communicate with each other.

Andrea