I Hate My School

[Wahoo Redux]

It's sad to see you feeling this way, Wahoo.  A couple of years ago you were a spirited defender of the value of academics and the liberal arts.  Now you seem very dispirited.  I don't know what to say or suggest to make you feel better about your work.  If you find this world a disappointing place to live in, well, so do I.  That's why I'm looking for the next one--while in the meantime attempting to accomplish all that remains possible to do in this one.  We're not yet at the point where it's impossible to make a meaningful difference.

Oh golly, I still am a big believer in the value of academics and the liberal arts, now more than ever!!

If anything my current situation has cemented in my own mind that education is only really valuable if it is taken in the spirit of a liberal arts philosophy.  This, I think, going to work every day at my current employer, is exactly what happens when all you talk about is job placement and "ROI."  This is what happens to academia.  If all the students see in college is a passage out of their jobs at Dairy Queen and the supermarket, you get polite, pleasant, and well-meaning Walking Dead.

My issues (and I was venting, so my prose was a bit purple) have to do with my current school and its devolving ethos and incompetent admin.

But I also recognize that this is the drift of academics at all levels.  Students pay too much to worry about minor issues such as intellectual development or breadth of knowledge, and we tell them not to worry about these things.  Repeatedly in politics, the media, the household dinner table, and even discussions on academic forums, college education is predicated upon debt and employment outcomes. There are too few students to go around for it to be otherwise.  The idea of an "educated populace" can be left to the bourgeoisie and to the eggheads.  We have to advertise and "brand" ourselves to survive.  As the kids say, "It is what it is."

And actually, today I am working on a cover letter for a job I am very well qualified for. 

Keep the faith.

[Wahoo Redux]

illicit classroom responses

Oops.

Obviously meant the near-homonym. 

[mamselle]

We knew what you meant...

   <<Grin....>>

I think of it as the need for the activation-complex energy that we learned about in chemistry class, that is necessary for a reaction to take place.

That 'spark' is harder to find in the cold months, in particular.

Not enough energy in the air, maybe...

M.

[Ruralguy]

A lot of us feel this way wahoo. The pandemic restrictions plus the in tandem economics have stressed us all out.
The students feel the same way, and that's on top of usual mediocrity or worse at any schools.

[mahagonny]

Teaching with everyone wearing a mask is a drag. The energy in the room is subdued; the experience lacks vividness on both ends.

[Sun_Worshiper]

Sounds like a miserable situation, Wahoo, and I'm sure we can all relate to aspects of it. I'd hit the market - sounds like you are already doing so.

[Wahoo Redux]

Thanks for the empathy, folks.  I feel a little ashamed complaining at all considering how many folks are still struggling on the adjunct march.  I also consider that, even on the worst days, what I do now for a living is still considerably better, if less stable, than what I did do for a living before the academic plunge.  And there are always those bright spots----I actually told one young woman, "No matter what, you must finish this screenplay and look for an agent."  It really was that good.  A rarity, but still, encouraging.

As the old Anglo-Saxon scop would say, "This too shall pass."

W00T!!!!!

[marshwiggle]

If anything my current situation has cemented in my own mind that education is only really valuable if it is taken in the spirit of a liberal arts philosophy.  This, I think, going to work every day at my current employer, is exactly what happens when all you talk about is job placement and "ROI."  This is what happens to academia. If all the students see in college is a passage out of their jobs at Dairy Queen and the supermarket, you get polite, pleasant, and well-meaning Walking Dead.

General intellectual curiosity and the desire to become qualified for good career options are not mutually exclusive.

The problem is that the students who possess both of those qualities are in limited supply; certainly less than required to keep all of the institutions looking for students full.

And to be clear, "if all the students see in college is a passage out of their jobs at Dairy Queen and the supermarket", they shouldn't be there in the first place. They should figure out what jobs they want passage into, and then choose whatever education and/or experience is appropriate.

[mahagonny]

If anything my current situation has cemented in my own mind that education is only really valuable if it is taken in the spirit of a liberal arts philosophy.  This, I think, going to work every day at my current employer, is exactly what happens when all you talk about is job placement and "ROI."  This is what happens to academia. If all the students see in college is a passage out of their jobs at Dairy Queen and the supermarket, you get polite, pleasant, and well-meaning Walking Dead.

General intellectual curiosity and the desire to become qualified for good career options are not mutually exclusive.

The problem is that the students who possess both of those qualities are in limited supply; certainly less than required to keep all of the institutions looking for students full.

And when keeping the institution full is the goal, intellectual curiosity is no longer the requirement. Money is.

Aside: one of my schools has high tuition and diversity among the student body. It is not uncommon to find minority students from very wealthy families who have little motivation for study. They probably aren't any easier to work with than the ones Wahoo meets. I don't think they are worried about ending up working in retail. This is what racial parity looks like?

[apl68]

Aside: one of my schools has high tuition and diversity among the student body. It is not uncommon to find minority students from very wealthy families who have little motivation for study. They probably aren't any easier to work with than the ones Wahoo meets. I don't think they are worried about ending up working in retail. This is what racial parity looks like?

I'm sure maghagonny is just trying to stir the pot again, but there is a valid observation here.  Some things--entitlement on the part of rich kids, struggles on the part of students from impoverished backgrounds and poor-quality K-12 schools--seem to have more to do with class than with race. 

[marshwiggle]

Aside: one of my schools has high tuition and diversity among the student body. It is not uncommon to find minority students from very wealthy families who have little motivation for study. They probably aren't any easier to work with than the ones Wahoo meets. I don't think they are worried about ending up working in retail. This is what racial parity looks like?

I'm sure maghagonny is just trying to stir the pot again, but there is a valid observation here.  Some things--entitlement on the part of rich kids, struggles on the part of students from impoverished backgrounds and poor-quality K-12 schools--seem to have more to do with class than with race.

Even issues of class that affect minority kids that have historic causes that were related to race are likely to be much more productively addressed as issues of class, since that is what they are based on now, and they don 't require all kinds of controversial identitarian interventions.

[mahagonny]

Aside: one of my schools has high tuition and diversity among the student body. It is not uncommon to find minority students from very wealthy families who have little motivation for study. They probably aren't any easier to work with than the ones Wahoo meets. I don't think they are worried about ending up working in retail. This is what racial parity looks like?

I'm sure maghagonny is just trying to stir the pot again, but there is a valid observation here.  Some things--entitlement on the part of rich kids, struggles on the part of students from impoverished backgrounds and poor-quality K-12 schools--seem to have more to do with class than with race.

Even issues of class that affect minority kids that have historic causes that were related to race are likely to be much more productively addressed as issues of class, since that is what they are based on now, and they don 't require all kinds of controversial identitarian interventions.

When we admit self- entitled, poor-study-habits rich kids and then inflate their grades, we continue to have them. And deserve to. I once listened to a college president explain that having tuition among the highest was a sign of status that was needed, and good for everyone. I found it unendearing, decadent. You can't give thrift a bad name and come out looking good.