May 02, 2008

• Postmodernism is what you call something that you KNOW doesn't make any sense (when you can't hide behind "religious faith"). I don't know why you'd want to bring this whole mess to our attention. The LESS publicity this now self-proclaimed attention whore gets the better. And the first link goes to a site that is trying to be the Ivy League's answer to Gawker, or maybe TMZ; for all we know it could be where the Weekly World News writers went after the paper folded. I really think tracicle should "Eek" this post and email the poster telling her.... oh. Nevermind.
• Get this woman on Oprah!!
• I've been reading about this on one of the fandom_wank related communities on journalfen (otf_wank, I think). I'm reminded of my own college days where there were plenty of student/teacher disagreements, but we mostly sucked it up when some old dude rattled on bossily about his inapplicable experience in the Eisenhower administration in class discussion and gave him bad reviews at the end of the semester after we'd safely gotten our grades. I can't decide whether I'm shocked that college students are challenging the dumb ideas of their professors with their grades still on the line, or just glad. I'd heard that this generation was supposed to be more apathetic than mine (I went to college in the 80s). Of course, we weren't as apathetic as made out by the Boomers who were busy patting themselves on the back for their college activism either, so maybe the common perception is just full of it.
• Academia makes otherwise normal people a bit crazy. If one is crazy to begin with, you end up with something like this.
• In the US, it seems people get teaching jobs based on their academic profile (where they got their degree, where they have been published) rather than their ability to teach.
• Two Ts, huh? She's crazy, crazy, crazy.
• She's talking about "Gattaca" that awful movie about genetic destiny from the late 90's, right? How did this ever come up in class? Also, from her picture, she has "that look". You know, that I'm-headed-round-the-bend look.
• Her course seems to be about writing in the context of science and technology, so all I could think of was maybe it came up as part of a discussion around literature (or film) in that context? It's just so random anyway.
• Dude! I can sue the school if my students don't respect me? I'm gonna be rich! And so is every other teacher in my high school! WHEEE! Thanks, Tracicle!
• Wow. Having read the interview and articles and comments, I must say that it simply appears that she was not ready to be in charge of a classroom. Students challenging you? Welcome to my world. Students ganging up on your ideas? Welcome to my world. You're not getting the respect you deserve? Please find me three high school teachers who are. If teaching at the collegiate level is supposed to be some remarkably different experience, then we certainly have a problem Houston. I do have some sympathy for not getting oriented as a new teacher, and I recognize that there are power dynamics which involve race in the classroom (as she alludes to); but at the same time, there are realities of classroom management which seem to be much more center-stage. It seems absurd for someone teaching about rhetoric and writing (ie, organizing ideas) to prohibit questions during class. You want to lecture? Fine. Make it clear that you're going to talk first and answer questions later. But it seems like she's expecting a level of deference and subservience that – right or wrong – you are simply not going to get right off the bat.
• This just sounds like such a sad story. Reading her own account of what happened, it seems that, yes, she didn't really have good classroom management skills. That said (being narcisstic), it makes me wonder about my own classroom skills. I've not gotten a lot of disagreement in even potentially contentious discussions - was it because I snapped it down too hard? I do worry, because at least in an American context there are somethings which people believe are based on fact (like that privatised businesses are always more efficient than public institutions) which aren't true, but it's very hard to say to a student "Actually, you're wrong," even if you add in the reasons why. It feels like a smackdown, but I don't want it to be - I want it to be a discussion, even an argument (if I'm right, I argue to win, but if you change my mind, I will say so). Sometimes I'm even a little jealous of the students in my discussion section. They may have to write the annoying response papers, but they can also chirp up with their opinion without worrying about being overbearing. I sometimes wish I could argue with them like I was just another student, not anyone with authority. But then I remember that they have to write weekly papers...but damn, I have to mark them. Can't decide which is worse.
• Also, Gattacca is a wonderful movie. And I will smackdown anyone who says otherwise :) Seriously - not flawless, not even high art, but really good. And he wore real glasses! Myopia was a plotpoint! And depicted very realistically - I've never seen that in a film or television anywhere else. It's like a celebration of myopic potential. (As well as a fairly good argument against genetic manipulation as being a simple way to "improve" humantity.)
• Okay - this exchange could have been very annoying/intimidating, or completely innocent, depending completely on the tone of voice:

  PV: ...One time Tom Cormen was sitting in the class, and she [a student] asked me, how many T’s are in Gattaca. This was the kind of question she was asking, “how many T’s are in Gattaca?,” and I was about to answer her and Tom Cormen pre-empted me, “two t’s.” I’ll leave you to interpret it. TDR: No. No, I don’t understand that. PV: I have to tell you: it means tenure track.

  Unfortunately, tone of voice just can't be recorded in print, nor correctly recalled by other people. Now, I would never have even associated TT with "tenure track", but then again, I'm teaching at a university and program which has very few adjuncts. Mainly just professors and graduate students - and, of course, as a grad student I would never be insulted if someone insinuated I wasn't a professor. (I'd be all like, "no, I'm not a prof, and that's why they pay me they teeny tiny bucks.") But I could see a very corrosive culture that could develop, especially if you have some classes taught by tenured professors, but others taught by adjuncts who are not accorded the same simple respect all teachers and students should give each other. But I think that it is first and foremost the tenured faculty (as the highest status members of the university) who set the tone for this kind of culture - it is their attitude towards adjuncts that will influence the students.
• I wasn't only counting her in my summation of academia and craziness - I'm sure that the other academics she works with are doing their share to make the entire context crazy. I work in outreach and extension at a large university, so i don't have a lot to do with the 100% academic side. When I do, it's like sitting down with a conference room full of Miss Havishams (very nice and erudite Miss Havishams, of course). I can't say I'd be truly surprised if the whole "two T's" thing was indeed some kind of buzzword - when you listen to an argument between two loonies, it's a coin toss whose argument is more grounded in reality.