Carrol Cox wrote:
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> A general and
>somewhat sloppy principle: the _easier_ one's grading is, the _more_
>freedom one has to teach 'above the heads' of part of one's class. And a
>qualification there: what is above the head of student A on one occasion
>is _not_ necessarily above his/her head on another occasion. And you can
>then back this up with plenty of occasions for students to talk with you
>in your office.
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>....
>Some professorial rage comes from an almost metaphysical belief that
>university teaching should be in some profound way _different_ from any
>other job. It is, some, some of the time. But it is still essentially
>just a job. It's a more fun and less laborious job if one does find ways
>to like students, or most of them, and even the most recalcitrant
>student is more fun sitting in a chair in your office than staring
>resentfully from the back row in a class of 75. And the professor in
>such a situation may be a bit less resentful if (s)he doesn't feel
>obliged to be the angel with a flaming sword guarding the gates of
>civilization from the barbarian hordes without.
>
Wonderful post Carrol. I completely agree. I do remember feeling
resentful about teaching basic grammar to college students. And I do
remember being disappointed that college teaching was just a job in many
ways. But not always. And really, the hardest thing was just being
thousands of miles away from friends and family.
I also remember that nearly all my colleagues at SUNY Plattsburgh took a sadistic pleasure in punishing students, failing students, humiliating students, and making fun of them in private. Undergraduates routinely had to take the required English composition course at least three times before they were passed. I remember arguing at a dept meeting that we should all use the same grammar book, so that the kids wouldn't have to start from scratch each time, but was told that this interfered with the profs "academic freedom."
Joanna
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