My college is changing its core curriculum and is basically no longer requiring things I teach: English, Literature, Humanities and Art Appreciation. They say the accrediting body, Southern Association, has changed its distribution requirements, and a consultant has assured them they can do it. It puts my continued teaching there at risk. But I'm doing the art apprec. this summer term--probably for the last time, and a "shadow English II Lit" this fall for those who have already completed English Composition I and will need it.
Whether they are risking re-accreditation, I don't know. I've been retired fulltime and out of the information loop for several years, teaching part-time only. But I can't imagine parents putting out the kind of money they charge to send their sons and daughters to a university that doesn't require English, math, humanities or public speaking courses. They say they're replacing them with interdisciplinary "dialogues" that students will begin in their sophomore years, and all faculty will teach.
I think they're crazy, and I predict that rather than enhance enrollment they will find students leaving in droves and not being able to recruit new ones. Who in their right mind will go to a university whose credits will no longer transfer, and may not continue to be regionally accredited? But I may not understand the issues, as I said, being on the outside now.
I had hoped to continue teaching at least one more year before I turn away from the rigors of the classroom altogether. I realize I will need to at some point. But I'm not looking forward to retiring completely. And I know I don't want to do the usual things well-meaning relatives and friends suggest to keep busy: volunteer work, golf, tennis, involvement in clubs, groups, church work, part-time work here or there. I'll be damned if I'll be a Walmart greeter or help people find galvanized nails at Home Depot. I'm a teacher
It looks now like I'll be able to keep teaching through Christmas, enough to stay out of trouble. I only need one section a couple of days a week to do the trick. Two is better, but at this point I'll take one. There's not much distance between one and two, but there's a vast distance between none and one. I'm hoping the university will come to its senses at some point and scrap the changes to the core. But I don't think it will happen for a year or two at the earliest, and that may be too late. If I run out of teaching opportunities before I'm ready to call it quits, I may try to get a class at one of the community colleges within driving distance. "Hello and welcome to Walmart" is not for me.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
Interdisciplinary dialogs? Isn't that what my son does on his cell phone? If the students participating in the dialogs are in their first two years of college, what disciplinary knowledge or experiential foundation will they have upon which to base any of these "interdisciplinary dialogs? And, what has been the outcome of "interdisciplinary dialogs" between the college administration and employers, graduate schools, and parents to determine whether this change will add or subtract value from the students' education?
Let me preface this by saying that my kid brother attended a university with an unconventional curriculum, the University of California at Santa Cruz, and he seems to have turned out all right, his most recent career accomplishment being second assistant director on "No Country for Old Men."
But UCSC is a very special case, and so is my kid brother. For the vast majority of colleges and students, I can't see that replacing core courses with "interdisciplinary dialogs" is going to do much good.
Yes, I can see value in, for example, a combination course in English and history, taught by a team of instructors from both disciplines, in which the skills from one discipline reinforce the skills in the other, and which give the student credit for taking two classes.
But to replace the entire core course requirements with some sort of "surprise soup" that consists of a mishmash of everything doesn't make sense.
I would recommend jumping ship to a nearby community college. Sure, community colleges aren't immune to trendy academic fads, but they're more resistant to them. And if the community colleges in your area are anything like the one that I teach at, they will welcome your experience and skills.
I have taught at a university, and I have taught at a community college, and I definitely find the community college more fulfilling.
Post a Comment