I asked my fellow committee members how we could possibly hire someone to teach writing who… could not write. I also pointed to her application letter, which was similarly awkward and error-laden. My committee colleagues argued that “we do not teach grammar” in our writing classes.
On “diversity” hires and the deskilling of academia.
One of these.
heck we hire people everywhere in Canada who are not qualified to do their jobs. just look at who we hired as PM.
Now residing in Mississauga, Ontario after living in Leaside, a WASP enclave in Toronto, for 30 years. The number of muslims I see is scary in this area as a lot of “refugees” are moved into the apartments and subsidized. The common factor I have noted with the hijab wearing muslims is they all are pushing a baby carriage or heavily pregnant. This will not end well for us infidels.
That sort of thing’s been going on in engineering for nearly 40 years.
When I was an undergrad during the 1970s, most of my engineering profs either had some actual field experience or worked closely with firms in industry. That aspect gave their lectures more credibility because one had the sense that they knew what they were talking about.
Then universities started hiring their engineering professors directly out of grad studies. All one needed was the magic three letters behind one’s name. Few of them, if any, ever spent time out in the field, worked on a shop floor or were ever in a design office.
The attitude is that one doesn’t need to have worked in industry to actually teach engineering and that industry will teach the graduates what they need to know anyway. (Really?)
I worked in industry before I returned for grad studies. I found it amusing when someone who’d been in school for most of their life tried to convince me that they knew more about engineering than I did even though they’d never worked in industry nor did they have professional registration. Those magic three letters trumps actual time in industry, or so they tried to tell me. That logic is like Al Capone’s approach to poker: a Smith & Wesson beats 4 aces.
Nowadays, actually having industrial experience is considered a liability when applying for a faculty position. The emphasis is now only on research and, more importantly, how effective one is at money-harvesting.
Further to my comments, in the past, it wasn’t unusual for an engineering department to hire someone in industry as part-time lecturers to teach certain courses. Their experience and expertise was considered valuable and graduates who took those courses often found good jobs because of what they had learned.
A few years ago, I heard a story about the department where I did my Ph. D. The boss at the time decided that anyone who taught in that department had to have a doctorate, regardless of what the course was. All those part-time lecturers from industry, many of whom did not have the magic three letters behind their names, were no longer welcome.
I have no idea what happened to the courses that were taught by those “underqualified” lecturers. I’m certain that the job prospects for the department’s graduates dropped because they no longer had knowledge that certain companies would have been interested in.
I eventually met that department head and was convinced that he was a few sandwiches short of a picnic.
Bingo!
When they converted UK technical institutes to Universities in the 1960s, people with industrial experience were replaced by PhDs, converting first rate technical institutes into third or fourth rate universities. Diversity hiring is the fifth rate icing on a fourth rate cake.
I receive multiple weekly email blasts from my wife’s local teachers UNION … the OEA. The emails… always calling for “solidarity” … days of “action” … and whatnot, are so poorly written as to elicit belly laughs from this reader. And it is not just laughable grammar, but the entire sentence structure and choice of words is disjointed and inscrutable. Perhaps it can be explained-away as “UNION-speak”, but these are TEACHERS ! Teachers from K to 12.
It is quite sad to receive a daily reminder of who is actually “teaching” our children. Demonstrably incompetent teachers. And what is even sadder, is the garbled content of these attempted communiques. The UNION is always protesting their “work”. They always want to DO less, for more PAY. Never ONCE does the UNION address the needs of the students. It is always all about the UNION, and THEIR needs. It is always all about the “evil” Administrators who are “hiding” money from the UNION and refusing to “bargain in good faith”. Never does the UNUION address what is best for the children. Speaking as someone who admires skillful negotiators (like our current POTUS) … I am appalled by the UNIONS negotiation techniques. They sound like whiney children who are throwing a tantrum because they can’t have another cookie. Rarely, if ever, do they calmly and analytically state their case in a persuasive manner. Since my wife is a teacher, I would be thrilled to see her paid at least as much as a CA Prison Guard or Hwy Patrol officer. But I am always embarrassed by her UNIONS unskilled negotiations … and pathetic communication skills. Who hired my wife’s colleagues? They are obviously ill equipped for their jobs.
Reading the cited reference, I found the original piece:
http://quillette.com/2017/04/13/de-professionalization-academy/
The candidate and the institution in question are, apparently, identified here:
http://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2017/04/16/the_useless_div.html
Look at the people on the hiring committee for that one, i.e. the electorate.
At the institution where I used to teach, the instructors were represented by an internal staff association. When our contract had about a year left before expiring (we were banned from going on strike), negotiations would begin.
Often, our negotiators were long-time staff and there were persistent rumours that they spent a long time arranging for the contract to address the issue of the staff who were close to retirement. In other words, they were arranging to get some nice exit packages for themselves.
Great juxtaposition here with the above “Forget the water wars.” topic. The education system is the next behemoth to be rolled under the bus. The $70,000 to $100,000+ babysitters that are ensconced in present day academic seats from K to undergrad courses are proving day and daily how they have exemplified “The Peter Principle”. There are more people being educated today courtesy of computers and U-Tube university than are coming out of academic institutions, institutions that have failed to prepare their graduates as productive members of society. Think of the taxpayer money that will be saved when some-one comes up with the ‘game’ solution to achieving an education.
“My committee colleagues argued that ‘we do not teach grammar’ in our writing classes.”
Same reason they don’t offer toilet training by their cafeteria. You’re already supposed to know that before you get there.
You’re already supposed to know that before you get there.
While I was teaching at a certain post-secondary institution, I often got into trouble on that very point.
Many of my students came direct from high school. I was expected to teach them what they didn’t know in order to teach them the actual course material.
Having them take a remedial or upgrading course before they started with me was out of the question, according to certain administrators. Doing so would have meant that they would have to pay more fees. Besides, it would have deprived them of all that earning time, which would, at most, have meant an extra year.
No, I couldn’t figure that out, either.
Even worse was when they came to my course after having taken a prerequisite and they weren’t taught all the necessary material in that one. The colleagues who ran those courses didn’t care if they got through all their material, so long as what they taught was taught well, in their opinion. (Think of it as “No Child Left Behind” for adults.)
In other words, they shoved their problem onto me and I had to clean up that mess.
It was little wonder why that institution had a high turnover in teaching staff.
My daughter was a TA for business writing. She probably was one of the most hated people in the faculty. Her professor supported her 100% on her marking.
Somewhere in the 1970’s, the standard Wheellock’s Latin textbook started being accompanied by a short primer on grammar because the first-year Latin students Wheellock was teaching didn’t know enough English grammar to understand the equivalent Latin grammar constructs. This has been going on for a very long time.
I know a primary school teacher who occasionally texts me to ask how to calculate x% off of $y sale value.
I have, and it should scare a rational intelligent person to death.
A high school buddy of mine got a nice gig teaching at a college. He enrolled in a class and was the top student when the teacher quit. Rather than find someone qualified to teach the college asked my buddy if he would talk over the class. He did and the rest as they say is history.