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A MUST READ FOR ALL ACADEMICS! Now on Amazon Kindle. Click on Professor Goat above to be directed to the book.
DON'T BE A SHEEP
UT's Officially Disapproved Information Source and HISTORICAL ARCHIVE. The only source of truth, where Paradox Manifests: Hundreds of thousands of visits. Yet No One Admits to Reading It. Welcome to the "Grey Area" where "Unethical Utterances," i.e., criticisms of administrators, are commonplace. Make U.U. here where genuine civility still reigns, a.k.a., freedom......................... UNIVERSITY OF TOLEDO'S EQUIVALENT TO RADIO FREE EUROPE
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NEW!!! Hard Eight by Professor Extreme
HARD EIGHT
Hard Eight: Auto-Ethnographic Essays on Academic Culture Featuring the End of the Arts & Sciences College, University of Toledo, 2010
Daily Koan
Should the newly discovered black hole be named in honor of UT BOT?
Swamp Bubble
Do you agree or disagree that University of Toledo suffers from administrative bloat?
How do you feel about the proposed UT Degree Guarantee program? (Reposted to allow more people to vote.)
How do you feel about the proposed UT Guarantee program?
How would you grade the overall performance of the Jacobs' administration on running the University of Toledo?
COMMENT OF THE WEEK
Bloggie applauds this perspicacious observer:
"The administration is in a panic mode to implement controversial and irreversible structural and curricular changes campus-wide by early February fiscal plan deadlines with only the vaguest notions of their impacts. The plan is, according to an interview with a top administrator published in the most recent Independent Collegian, to cast out many seeds and "see what grows." This experimental garden, as most senators articulated in many different ways, seems a costly recipe for disaster. Utter madness. Stay tuned."
Print Version of Dictionary of Academia Available on Amazon.com
The profound ruminations of the goaty Sage are now available in this 119 page satirical masterpiece. See: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1480292494/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_2?pf_rd_p=486539851&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=B009RC0SJA&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=1JV8N5BYAYY9WC9SJWD2
"Dictionary of Academia" Read it While it's Hot
A MUST READ FOR ALL ACADEMICS! Now on Amazon Kindle. Click on Professor Goat above to be directed to the book.
Comment of the Week
"This is that old tension between the corporate way of doing things and the academic way of doing things. In the corporate world, you sweep everything under the rug to make your b.s. as shiny, pleasing to the nose, and profitable as possible. In the academic world, you operate with a higher moral standard. Veritas and all that."
Comment of the Week of August 13
Re UT academic posers and hypocrites:
Have their checks calculated in units of postmodern theoretical currency and issued in photocopied legal tender notes signed by Walter Benjamin with a photo of Karl Marx and a seal stamped “In Derrida We Trust”.
Comment of the Era
Wow! Ain't that something.
-Anonymous
Comment of the Week
Mention goes to the the anonymous commentator of Feb 7, who, regarding UT President Llloyd Jacob's "Investing in Faculty" letter, stated: "If we could use the same criteria for 'investing in administrators' we could cut most of those positions."
Comments to HLC
Make sure you address your comments to HLC to the email address listed below in the "Higher Learning Commission Wants to Know" post. This may be the only chance you have to be heard. Bloggie hears that UT administration has discussed giving faculty "training" so that faculty members know how to "properly" talk to the HLC folks. How's that for stacking the deck? Does everyone get a little script to read? Make sure you practice before a mirror at being bright-eyed and bushy-tailed.
Comment of the Week!
Definitely, the Comment of the Week award goes to Anonymous 12:14 pm, Dec 3, under the "Higher Learning Commission Needs to Know" posting by Diogenes. Pithy and pointed!
--Love,
Bloggie
MESSAGE OF THE DAY:
DON'T BE A SHEEP
Independent Collegian Article on Dicey Administrative Spending
IC reporter Casey Cheap looks at bow ties, apartments and movie tickets purchased by UT administrators at university/public expense. See
TO CONTACT BLOGGIE . . .
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Letter and Petition from Foreign Languages Faculty Member
A couple weeks ago, at the beginning of summer break, we in the Department of Foreign Languages were informed that our secretary's position was being eliminated and that while she will not lose her job (she'll be transferred), that position is not to be filled. We apparently will be expected to do our own jobs plus what we can of the secretary's. That is clearly not acceptable, and so one of the steps we in FL are taking against it is an online petition now available for any who want to (including those who for whatever reason--not a registered Ohio voter, not a US citizen, etc.--cannot sign the petition against SB5), to read and sign.
I know not everyone on the blog will be interested in this; I'm not asking anyone who doesn't want to, to sign or even read the petition. I do think that there are many who would be interested and would want to sign it--if they knew about it.
It's scary to post this under my own name; I'm as afraid as anyone of repercussions. But this is simply too important to keep quiet on, and we have to do something! FL is not the first department that this has happened to, and it's almost certain not to be the last if we don't speak up in a way that the administration will hear us and in a way that makes clear that other people are seeing that it's going on.
Here's the link to the online petition:For those who can make it, there will also be an informational meeting--including lunch and petition-signing--next Friday, May 27 in FH 2420, 12:00 - 2:00 p.m.
I know not everyone on the blog will be interested in this; I'm not asking anyone who doesn't want to, to sign or even read the petition. I do think that there are many who would be interested and would want to sign it--if they knew about it.
It's scary to post this under my own name; I'm as afraid as anyone of repercussions. But this is simply too important to keep quiet on, and we have to do something! FL is not the first department that this has happened to, and it's almost certain not to be the last if we don't speak up in a way that the administration will hear us and in a way that makes clear that other people are seeing that it's going on.
Here's the link to the online petition:For those who can make it, there will also be an informational meeting--including lunch and petition-signing--next Friday, May 27 in FH 2420, 12:00 - 2:00 p.m.
Katherine Best
Wave of the Future or Merely Sometime Later This Week?
The Chronicle of Higher Education ran a deeply fascinating article called, "When to Dissolve a Faculty Senate." Apparently this is any time that it becomes "adversarial" to administration.
The online comments to the article are priceless.
Nemeth on Mammon in IC
David Nemeth's most recent tour-de-force
Professor Nemeth has another fabulous and timely article in the new and increasingly wonderful Independent Collegian. See http://www.independentcollegian.com/forum/the-kraken-attacks-1.2340091
Nemeth Does it Again
See the forum article in The Independent Collegian at:
Nemeth's New Article in Collegian
The Independent Collegian has run another of Professor Nemeth's fine and provocative articles in its latest edition. This one discusses the double-talk by mouthpieces for the current UT administration concerning the effects of and reasons behind so-called strategic reorganization. Make sure you get the latest version of Newspeak 5.1 if you want to decode what UT administrators are really saying.
UT Ranks 13th Nationally on Administrative Bloat
See Appendix B of the Administrative Bloat report posted on 8/28 for evidence, but UT now has a higher proportion of administrators to students than all but 12 public universities in America. President Jacobs has finally put University of Toledo in the top tier. With Strategic Organization he may be aiming for number one.
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Recent Letters from The Blade
Jacobs' arrogance is astonishing
Recently, President Lloyd Jacobs of the University of Toledo stated that bonuses were justified because his administrators "took all the risks."
As a professor at UT, I am outraged that President Jacobs claims that administrators take all of the risks. What risks do they take that the other faculty and staffs on campus do not?
Administrators are protected by state and federal employment laws and by their contracts.
When ex-President Vik Kapoor was terminated, he remained a professor with a salary near what he was paid as president.
As president emeritus, Dan Johnson retained a salary greater than his pay as president.
In the recent layoffs, exceptionally few administrators were terminated. It seems to me that low-level personnel at UT have far more risks because the greater proportion of the layoffs have come from their ranks. And they did not have continuing salaries.
President Jacobs' answer to questions on two occasions regarding relinquishing part of his bonus was to the effect that he earned his bonuses and what he did with them was his business.
Administrators do not risk their personal money in their duties: they use taxpayer money and funds collected through donations and grants to the university.
Administrators take home salaries in the hundreds of thousands of dollars and then add bonuses for longevity and whatever else the president decides is fitting for their contracts.
However, the lower-level personnel have much lower salaries and no such bonuses. Where is the risk?
It seems to me that these bonuses are convoluted: The lower-level personnel are taking the greater risks with no bonuses while the administrators with very rewarding jobs with little risk receive large bonuses.
Am I missing something here?
WALTER W. OLSON,
Mechanical, Industrial, and Manufacturing
Engineering,
University of Toledo
It's the same old, same old at UT
I could hardly believe the arrogance of Dr. Lloyd Jacobs, president of the University of Toledo, when a reporter asked if he would be willing to forgo his bonus in light of the layoffs, raise in tuition, etc.
His comment was that he worked for it. Is that to say that the ones being laid off did not work for their pay?
All I can say is, business as usual at UT. Some things never change.
SANDY FLICK
Rose Acres Drive
UT also has checks, balances
In response to letter titled "Professors must focus on teaching," I would like to point out that the University of Toledo operates on the basis of shared governance.
This means that faculty members participate in the administration of the university.
A focus on teaching requires faculty to address administrative issues such as policies, procedures, and yes, finances, because these all affect classroom outcomes. A university with solid and equitable finances benefits everyone, including and especially the students. Just as the U.S. government is constituted to have checks and balances, so is our university government.
The UT-AAUP is one of those checks against UT administrators who most recently have displayed more concern for their own profit rather than a concern for the common good.
LINDA M. ROUILLARD,
Associate Professor
of French,
University of Toledo
Quote of the Year (so far)
The following is excerpted from the recent UT AAUP newsletter concerning the official university response to news of the bonus scandal:
. . . . Either Jacobs is misleading the media or he has misled the Board of Trustees. President Jacobs objected to "the general tone" of the UT-AAUP Newsletter. Many persons on this campus object to the "general tone" of the Jacobs Administration. During his tenure as President, he has introduced an administrative culture of fear and intimidation. . . . A point of logic must be raised here, with all respect to UT AAUP, the conclusions that President Jacobs has (1) misled the media and (2) the Board of Trustees are not mutually exclusive. Both would seem likely given his considerable talent at spinning "visions." |
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42 comments:
"... see how they run, see how they run ..."
What! The ship is leaving the burning rats?
Bloggie,
There are three rats taking their loot and abandoning ship in your cartoon.
Does this mean more administrators besides Gold are bailing?
(And we always thought Goldie was the Golden Boy - why would he leave?)
Also, on the Provost's Office Staff pages, some of our former "favorite" vice provosts have disappeared - and among the deans some are listed as "interim" (one is listed as dean in one place and interim dean in another).
What's the latest on how you see all these various rosters shaking out and shaping up in the perennial campus game of administrative musical chairs?
American students sinking with the ship of American education
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2013/12/03/american-high-school-students-slip-in-global-education-rankings/?intcmp=latestnews
All our education experts and trillions of dollars in education spending on fancy education programs and theories and bureaucracies and administrators can't figure out how to teach American students the 3 R's - something a single teacher in a circa 1800 one room American schoolhouse used to be able to do with a few books, a chalk board and basic traditional teaching methods and values.
The likes of Thoreau, Abe Lincoln, Thomas Edison and countless other great Americans were largely if not entirely self taught, reading by candlelight with borrowed books.
But the only thing we seem to be able to do is dump more money into more useless politicized education programs and whine about "discrimination" and hire more experts and demand more funding and "research" for "education" - while the rest of the world somehow manages to miraculously just gitter done.
Without massive and swift substantive education reform the U. S. is in for a major butt kicking in the global economy.
Better start learning how to say "Would you like fries with that?" in Chinese.
Winds of changed at UT in recent years Gold is no longer the golden boy (replaced by SS), besides Gold is getting $$$$ he would never get at UT even if he was ever appointed President.
One "fav" vice provost was sent back to faculty position a few months ago, those deans listed as interim - pretty common practice at UT in recent years for such initial appointments as internal promotions for year one of there service - not so sure any of those dean positions are planned for searches so by end of June all will be reappointed as deans would be my guess.
Also Big Jake is interviewing...
Yes, as time goes by – the news about “The Wild West” of education and teacher training seems to remain dismally the same.
This from the September 22, 2006 Wall Street Journal:
“Schools of education have gotten bad grades before. Yet there are some truly shocking statistics about teacher training in this week’s report from the Education Schools Project.
…The Education Schools Project was begun in 2001, with foundation funding, to analyze how America trains its educators and to offer constructive criticism.
…The final report was written by ESP director Arthur Levine, a former president of Columbia's Teacher's College.
…The report's most stunning revelation—to outsiders at least—is that nobody knows what makes a good teacher today.
...Mr. Levine compares the training universe to "Dodge City." There is an "unruly" mix of approaches, chiefly because there is no consensus on how long teachers should study, for instance, or whether they should concentrate on teaching theory or mastering subject matter.
Wide variations in curricula, and fads—like the one that produced the now-discredited "fuzzy math" — make things worse.
Compare such chaos with the training for professions such as law or medicine, where, Mr. Levine reminds us, nobody is unleashed on the public without meeting a universally acknowledged requisite body of knowledge and set of skills.”
http://www.edschools.org/news/Wall_Street_Journal_092206.htm
http://www.edschools.org/
Is there anything left to take? I thought they all cleaned out the place like the Grinch cleaned out Whovill, with all their salaries, bonuses, perks, fancy lunches, trips, sweet heart deals, and golden and platinum umbrellas and parachutes? Maybe the hoard of locust administrators are moving on to untouched green fields after their feeding frenzy here?
Re Big Jake interviewing
According to published Blade reports, Jacobs is (presumably like most senior executives and academic administrators) regularly contacted by headhunters, but he says his plans are to stay put.
Re Anon 3:01
Interim deans merely a prequel to full deanship?
True enough - we've seen it all before, but...
Yikes!
That's some pretty heavy duty hire-from-within cronyism - not to mention at least in some cases really scraping the bottom of the barrel in terms of actual (lack of) qualifications and administrative ability.
We've seen some of these jokers bumble around and bounce from one superfluous high paying titled position to another long enough to know it's pretty much "Clowns to the left of me - jokers to the right - here I am - stuck in the middle with you".
And isn't the standard protocol supposed to be posting an ad in the CHE and conducting an open national search for any new faculty or administrators?
Your cartoon is, alas, only too accurate a picture of the current UT. But, like a phoenix, UT can rise from the ashes. When that happens, it will be because of its faculty, students and staff, and not because of overpaid, self-absorbed administrators.
"And isn't the standard protocol supposed to be posting an ad in the CHE and conducting an open national search for any new faculty or administrators?"
May have been in the past, but not so here at UT for several years. Also reminded of the two attempts to find a Provost that involved full nation search - and both searches failed. Apparently the new model is to promote from within only (saves the embarrassment of failed search plus stronger control over appointees)
The hallowed grounds of academia were once inhabited solely by serious, rigorously trained and highly qualified and dedicated students, teachers and scholars, who were all held to the highest standards and ideals of academic achievement and intellectual integrity in substantive academic disciplines within the arts, humanities, social sciences and hard sciences.
But in the post-1960’s “postmodern” age, academia has increasingly become the publicly funded cash cow playground, country club and PC special interest victim identity group propaganda training camp for battalions of clueless, self-serving, elitist, pretentious, pseudo-academic migrant worker carpetbaggers, deadbeats and mediocrities - with little or no loyalty to the institutions or regions they pass through on their quixotic careerist adventures.
The mediocre nature of their own academic training and indoctrination prevents them from being able to even begin to understand their own absurdity.
Anyone who doubts any of this need only cast a critical eye upon the legions of bumbling high-salary administrators in bloated, top-heavy university administrations and look at the well documented and dismal student and faculty academic outcomes.
Point the finger at whomever you like and blow all the pretentious, politicized, self-congratulatory smoke and hot air you want – the proof is in the pudding.
Apart from his own assertion in the Blade, is there any evidence that El Gordo is actually being contacted by headhunters?
I doubt anyone posting here would have evidence that LJ is getting calls from headhunters, but as surprising as it may be to many (not me), I am sure like all senior administrators he gets these calls regularly as to sort of goes with the territory. And to some with a quick glance from the outside, any college President from a public institution with 18,000+ students and $800 million budget may seem appealing to someone looking.
Anyone who looks closely at LJ will see someone who can't handle a budget, as evidenced by the yearly budget shortfalls and cuts. They will see someone who is arrogant and incompetent as evidenced by decisions that have to be undone as soon as they are pronounced, i.e., college breakups, reformulations and more breakups. They need only read a few Blade articles to complete the picture, i.e., $1,200/day consultants and a VP under investigation by the Justice Dept. They'll see someone who has not got a clue about how to run a university.
This is an academic institution. A state public university. There has been no value-added to the academic mission of the University since Jacobs Inc. arrived. It has all been a gaint FAIL for the past seven years. You may be right about how the administrative game is played, but in my opinion he is not worth a thin dime as an higher education academic leader based on his track record.
Looks like all the colleges that were slammed together two years ago and then ripped apart last year are going to be thrown back together...soon
I wonder who decided to ruin the Doermann Theatre proscenium arch platser relief design and cover it with plexiglass and fake neon that changes color ? Looks like a burger joint for honor students
Lie today – cry tomorrow: Academia, Detropia USA and the human cost of liberal tax and spend unsustainability
Whatever promises governments, corporations, institutions, unions, groups or individuals make to you (re investments, pensions, social security, health care insurance, contracts, marriage, etc.) are only as good as the paper they are written upon – and only as good as the integrity and viability of the ideals, policies and values of those governments, corporations, institutions, groups or individuals who underwrite those promises:
Detropia, Oh My Detropia: From Civil Rights to Civil Apocalypse
http://www.weather.com/travel/modern-ruins-abandoned-detroit-photos-20130715
Winds of Woe in the Windy City: Is Chicago (Obamaland) the Next Detroit?
http://video.foxbusiness.com/v/2589213469001/is-chicago-the-next-detroit/
http://money.msn.com/business-news/article.aspx?feed=AP&date=20131210&id=17179818
Holy Toledo: Hope and Change?
http://swampbubbles.com/20131124/econcat88-real-hero-trashing-toledo-one-negative-video-time
re "Looks like all the colleges that were slammed together two years ago and then ripped apart last year are going to be thrown back together...soon"
Pray do elaborate and enlighten us!
Maybe if you invent enough colleges and then smash them together at a high enough speed, you find the Higgs boson. Surely YouCollege must be an important component of the reaction.
If Jacobs and Scarborough continue their "business-as-usual," we will become NoCollege.
Recent NYTimes interview with the director of the new documentary film "At Berkeley":
“I hope [viewers] come away with a feeling that it is a great university, run by people of intelligence and sensitivity, and working hard to maintain standards and integrity.”
This description by comparison makes the University of Toledo look pathetic. Under Jacobs Inc. we seem to be "The UnBerkeley."
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/10/opinion/nocera-the-berkeley-model.html?src=rechp&_r=0
The Academic Matrix: Why it’s not all just academic
Consider for a moment just how important higher education is.
Our entire modern, industrialized world, from top to bottom, is run almost entirely by college graduates – Politics, Journalism, Arts, Humanities, Science, Technology, Industry, Entertainment, Sports, Banking and Finance, Media, Military, Medicine, Law – not to mention “Education”. Even the churches are run by college graduates.
The Pope is a college graduate – as are virtually all priests and clergy of all religious denominations.
So it is no exaggeration to say that if you control higher education you effectively control “The Narrative” of society, culture and civilization – and if you have absolute control over “The Narrative” (and even “The Meta-Narrative”) you literally have absolute control over the minds of everyone.
The likes of Hitler and Stalin and Mao understood this all too clearly. The academic Marxist-Feminist Postmodernists also understand this (or perhaps it would be more accurate to say their Puppet Masters do).
As for the rest of us clearly understanding this fundamental truth… since most of us all, um, went to college… well, not so much.
So whenever we seek “The Truth” about anything, assuming we do not already “know” it (because, um, we learned all about it in college) it is only natural we should turn to our assorted college graduate “experts” and “intellectuals” so they can show us the way to The Promised Land.
Because, after all, we learned all about everything we know in college from them and they have PhD’s – and college textbooks and college courses and college professors and academic intellectuals and gurus are never wrong – and just to be sure, we also heard all about it on NPR and The Katie Couric and Rachael Maddow Shows and from Jon Stewart and we laughed at all the cute politically correct skits on SNL and we also got all the latest info from all those college educated geniuses over there at The New York Times and Mother Jones and The New Republic.
But if higher education is in so many respects fundamentally corrupt – as we have seen it is – then it should come as no surprise that our entire society and all of our supposedly reliable sources of expert opinion and truth and information are also in many respects fundamentally corrupt – as they most obviously are.
And it should then also come as no surprise that so much of what we believe to be true regarding all the pressing issues of the day – from education and social issues to science, economics, politics, the arts and humanities and social sciences etc. – our most cherished political and ideological sacred cows – may not be quite as true as we would like to believe.
And if we live our entire lives as academics within the insulated and cloistered Halls of Academe – where non-PC unbelievers and heretics are strictly forbidden and politically incorrect blasphemy is strictly censored and severely punished – it is possible to live a virtually undisturbed and tranquil life as one of millions of dozing academic pods in the bizarro alternate virtual reality of The Academic Matrix.
Cont.
Academic Matrix cont.
This can all tend to make academics nearly impervious to the obvious and sometimes unable to recognize that identifying the best and true answers and solutions is very often a matter of simple and practical common sense.
This is why nerdy academics aren’t always necessarily the best choice when it comes to the sort of practical and pragmatic skill sets needed for effective, real world efficiency and effectiveness in areas like, oh… say academic administration.
Penny, would you please be so kind as to illustrate our point here?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FmMzlehzU8c
Thank you, Penny.
…or why, when what the situation really requires (like say, um, the “situation” in American education) is some good old fashioned butt kicking, Dr. Poindexter, PhD, may not be the first person you want to recruit for the “quest”.
Below, Penny shows the Big-Bang Theory Cal-Tech PhD boys, Dr. Sheldon Cooper, PhD, Dr. Leonard Hofstadter, PhD, Dr. Rajesh Koothrapalli, PhD, and Mr. Howard Wolowitz (who only has a lowly Master’s Degree in Engineering from MIT) how no-nonsense, all-American girls from Nebraska finish a quest and just “gitter done”:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mB7KHC23mtY
Please. Don't continue. Your spasmodic rants against postmodernism and feminism just trigger brain-clouds in critical thinkers hoping to discover in this blog some clarity about higher education issues.
You don't seem to appreciate the unmet need for more courses at UT like queer theory and postmodern square dancing and engineering the efficacy of craft brewing for religious purposes.
Lighten up and learn how to roll a blunt.
Please! Please! Please! Please!
Remain within The Academic Matrix if you must…
James B,
Sorry if we hit another truth nerve, but it’s what we do.
To sooth your discomfort we prescribe one of your own favorite truth remedies – a big fat Bob Marley Doobie followed by a generous Dr. Phony MoFo PoMo Anesthetic chaser to numb your acute reality induced pain.
If you prefer to take “the blue pill” and remain in the blissful soporific virtual reality dreamscape of The Academic Matrix, that’s your choice.
We have elected to take “the red pill” and have accordingly been awakened from our “dogmatic slumbers”.
Alas, there’s no going back.
(Note: We would normally post a brief illustrative video clip here to explain the blue pill and red pill reference for those who may not have seen the film The Matrix – but we will refrain for reasons explained below).
We have always endeavored to “lighten up” as you suggest – by routinely peppering our often admittedly and sadly necessarily somber (but accurate) critiques of academia etc. with satire, humor and comic relief (in the spirit of the long and fabled history of great satirists – from Aristophanes, Ovid, Chaucer, Rabelais, Swift, Voltaire and Sterne, to Wilde, Wodehouse, Twain, and Orwell, to Woody Allen, George Carlin, Tina Fey and Seth MacFarlane).
As is our custom, our most recent post similarly concluded with some lighter side satire and video clips (note the “Cont.” at the end of our Academic Matrix post above).
But it seems the “new regime” at the ASC Blog is invoking something of a new satire and video clip blackout policy – which is certainly their right, since it is after all their blog.
We also recently posted a very positive and proactive holiday reading list (complete with illustrative and humorous video clips) regarding the idea of “conscious capitalism” and human thriving and well-being, which we believed would be welcome by most ASC Blog readers – perhaps even you.
But that post also did not pass muster.
Just for you, we will attempt to re-post the lighter Part 2 of our Academic Matrix post below.
If it does not appear – at least you will know we tried.
Try to find comfort in the fact we are indeed contemplating a move to another site, so that we may post uncensored and unleashed, as it were, and also so as to avoid apparently causing so much anguish and distress to ASC readers like you.
In the meantime, try to lighten up a bit yourself. Remember, all you have to do is roll the little wheel on your mouse and you can easily scroll past all of our frightening and threatening posts.
Merry Christmas.
Academic Matrix cont.
Re-post
This can all tend to make academics nearly impervious to the obvious and sometimes unable to recognize that identifying the best and true answers and solutions is very often a matter of simple and practical common sense.
This is why nerdy academics aren’t always necessarily the best choice when it comes to the sort of practical and pragmatic skill sets needed for effective, real world efficiency and effectiveness in areas like, oh… say academic administration.
Penny, would you please be so kind as to illustrate our point here?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FmMzlehzU8c
Thank you, Penny.
…or why, when what the situation really requires (like say, um, the “situation” in American education) is some good old fashioned butt kicking, Dr. Poindexter, PhD, may not be the first person you want to recruit for the “quest”.
Below, Penny shows the Big-Bang Theory Cal-Tech PhD boys, Dr. Sheldon Cooper, PhD, Dr. Leonard Hofstadter, PhD, Dr. Rajesh Koothrapalli, PhD, and Mr. Howard Wolowitz (who only has a lowly Master’s Degree in Engineering from MIT) how no-nonsense, all-American girls from Nebraska finish a quest and just “gitter done”:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mB7KHC23mtY
James B,
Also worth keeping in mind:
"Education is the ability to listen to almost anything without losing your temper or your self-confidence." - Robert Frost
The atmosphere at the university stinks. It is depressing, controlling, and desperate. No chance of keeping students with that. It all comes from the leadership downward.
The Long March
The fact that the “unwanted outsider and iconoclast” poster here continuously uses superior writing, sophisticated satire, rational argument, facts, references, tremendous scholarly and scientific knowledge and erudition and cites the likes of Aristophanes, Ovid, Voltaire, Oscar Wilde and Mark Twain, while the insider PC tenured radical professor’s response is to “just shut the eff up and go smoke a joint why don’t ya!” tells us pretty much all we need to know regarding just how far we have come on our long march to cultural perdition.
http://www.amazon.com/Long-March-Cultural-Revolution-Changed-ebook/dp/B003XRDBVW/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1387210439&sr=1-1&keywords=the+long+march+kimball
Even students have started to understand that UT has been transformed into a scam, a "for profit" diploma mill, run by people who would not get a high school diploma in a serious country.
Some very recent comments from studentsreviews about UT:
"I transfered to this university because it's close to home. That's the only reason. This school is an absolute joke academically. I've taken classes here that shouldn't even be offered at the high school level. Enrollment standards are terribly low and many of my fellow students are quite dull. But UT refuses to enforce any academic standards because that would drive students and their Pell grants away. That creates a bottom tier university that is basically a diploma mill. If you have any chance to go to another school, you should take it. "
"This is the textbook example of a “for profit” university. A high portion of my classes existed just for the university to claim tuition money. A poor school.
If you are interested in paying your money and getting a degree just to have one, I would highly recommend this university. The majority of its classes are catered to student who feel obligated to receive a degree, as opposed to students who have a desire to learn anything of personal value. "
"This guy is right on. I am a current student as well and I can tell you that most of my classes are a complete waste of time. It's like high school all over again. This is the definition of a diploma mill."
"The fact that the 'unwanted outsider and iconoclast' poster here continuously uses superior writing ... while the insider PC tenured radical professor’s response is to 'just shut the eff up and go smoke a joint why don’t ya! tells us pretty much all we need to know..."
No, it doesn't tell us much of anything.
1) Posts are anonymous. You have no idea who made the comment about rolling a blunt.
2) It's not clear that the "iconoclastic" posts are "superior." Staying on topic is an important characteristic of good writing.
3) This is the freaking internet. It's a place to anonymously blow off the steam resulting from our involvement in this fiasco of a university. I'm sure most of the participants here are capable of quality academic writing when the situation calls for it.
Anon 9:06 -- Are those comments appearing in some publicly accessible venue? Would be interesting to have a look.
In all fairness UT ranks among many mid sized public 4 year degree schools including BGSU, Kent State and many other similar colleges in midwest. UT is also put into the difficult position of having to accept any high school graduate from Ohio as by part law we are an open enrollment college. UT has its unique challenges, but so do may other state colleges. And I can easily list 100+ UT graduates that very happy with their experience and degrees and have gone to be very successful. So I am not sure sure a self selected survey is very representative of how undergraduates from UT view the college.
One flew over the cuckoo’s nest…
…but seein’ as we’s all decent law abidin’ folk ‘round here, yessir…
…and we’s ain’t n’er seen nothin’ like that ‘round these here campus parts before no how…
…and we’s sure as shootin’ don’t take too kindly to be havin’ no strangers tryin’ them sortsa newfangled things… nossir
…for’s iffin’ the Good Lord Marx woulda intended us folks to be flyin’ all o’er tarnation with our’n own ideas an’ such like’n that thar – well I reckon He’s sure as tootin’ woulda givin’ us all the wings so’s to do the flyin’ and thinkin’ with fern ourn own durned selves, don’t ya s’pose?… yessir…
…so’s we’s all done what we’s done had to done accordin’ to the Good Book – that bein’ acourse the Good Book Gospels Accordin’ to Marx – and we’s all hustled off and grabbed us all our little pseudo-intellectual PC pea shooters, yessir…
…and we’s done tried every whichin’ way to blow that rabble rousin’ sombitch clean outta the sky…
…but damned if that ornery critter didn’t just keep right on flappin’ and flyin’ along and makin’ all sorts a squawkin’ ruckus and raisin’ Cain ‘tils he were o’er yonder clean outta sight anyhoo…
…well now, sir… if that just ain’t the durndest thing we’s ever seen in all our born days, yessir…
…we’s thinks it mighta bin one o’ them thar UFO’s…
…but iffin that thar ever happens agin…
…well sir, there’s only one thing left fer’n a feller to do… yessir…
…first’n ya’ll takes a couple’n big ol’ swigs o’ Dr. Phony’s Postmodern PhD White Lightnin’, yessir…
…and goodness knows it don’t take much o’ that thar PoMo White Lightnin’ ta set a feller’s tail on fire, yessir…
…and when that thar’n Moonshine Mule’s all a kickin’ ‘round real good inside yer noggin’ – well then yuz jus’ fires up yerself a nice big fat joint o’ that good ol’ Appalachian academic hill folk home grown…
…up here’n we’s likes ta calls it Ivry Tower Purpull Haze or’n Rocky Top Kontnental Filosuffy Fluff…
…anyhoo, yuz jus’ puffs ‘n puffs away on that thar fattie thar real good…
…and then when that thar’n room’s all a spinnin’ an’ a spinnin’ an’ yuz jus’ all a buzzin’ to beat the band and yuz knows yuz ready…
…and yuz gonna knows yuz ready cuz when yuz ready and yuz opens up one o’ them high fallutin’ Marxist-Feminist Postmodern Fillosuffy books by Foucault or Derrida an’ the likes o’ them thar rum-runnin’ moonshiners…
well sir, yuz gonna be thinkin’ ta yerself straight away – “Hot damn! This here feller’s a geenyuz!” – even though in the clear light o’ day yuz knows as well as anyone else it’s all jus’ a bunch o’ hogwash and it jus’ don’t make a lick o’ sense no how…
…well then, like I wuz sayin’, when yuz good ‘n ready yuz jus’ goes outdoors and yuz jus’ starts hollerin’ and hollerin’ and hollerin’ and hollerin’ up thar at the moon like a plumb crazy coyote…
…YEEEE-HAWWW!! YEEEE-HAWWW! likin that thar…
…yuz jus’ keeps on a caterwaullin’ ‘tills yuz jus’ can’t hears nothin’ no more nor’ns see’n straight nor’ns think’n straight no more…
…or’n ‘til’s yuz jus’ clean passes out… yessir…
… and that thar’ll fix yer up real good and set yer mind to rest… I’z garunteez it, yessir…
Dear anonymous 6:55 AM,
yes the students reviews are available here:
www.studentsreview.com
then search university of Toledo
Dear anonymous December 17, 2013 at 7:00 AM,
you are completely missing the point. One can be quite successful and happy (especially according to American standard) and keep having the critical thinking and the knowledge of a piece of rock. I also personally know some very smart undergraduate students (less than 20 though) and I also know not very smart graduates who became extremely successful; for instance a not so clever undergraduate student is a quite outstanding porn actor, he lives in Santa Monica and he earns more than me, you and probably even Scary. Is that the success you want? Certainly by the American standards he is very successful and also quite happy. By the way, I am sure this example perfectly fits the definition of success for ElGordo!
I agree with you, though, that it is not only a UT problem. This affects even flagship state universities and possibly even Ivi League schools. It is typical of the degradation of academic standards in the US, compared to those in Europe.
This disproves also the fact that this degradation is caused by marxist (since in Europe they are much more marxist than us); it is instead caused by corporations that need just dumb cogs to make their business run.
"you are completely missing the point. One can be quite successful and happy (especially according to American standard) and keep having the critical thinking and the knowledge of a piece of rock. I also personally know some very smart undergraduate students (less than 20 though) and I also know not very smart graduates who became extremely successful"
But has that not been the case in higher education and UT for decades ? My point was that even with the changes and challenges in higher ed and UT, many of our graduates use their degrees from UT very successfully regardless of how one defines success. Higher Ed has always turned out marginal graduates and many have become successful with no relation to their degree. After 20+ years in higher ed the biggest difference I see with our students is how many are coming into college unprepared academically and socially for the expectations associated with earning a college degree - which I say reflects more on K12 and parents, then college or employment conditions or employer needs. We can produce high quality students by any standard, but many students are unwilling or unable to achieve above average performance mostly because they come into higher ed with major issues, a greater problem at UT as an open enrollment college with Ohio high school students entering with 14 ACT and 2.5 HS GPA. In my view society and K12 education have changed and had a greater negative impact on these students then any changes to higher education in terms of how and what we teach.
Re: www.studentsreview.com
look at any school - almost all comments for ALL schools are negative. This is a weirdly biased source. UT has problems - but this information source does not help - getting rid of the current administration will not change these comments. Now a blog with faculty comments might change the administration as long as it does not become crazy as this one has.
Dear Anonymous December 18, 2013 at 12:21 PM,
the problem is not that all the comments for all the schools are negative (something which is not by the way, since when you select a school you can see the percentage of students that would choose that school if they could come back in time... only 40 % of UT students would do that).
You also need to read the negative comments!
If a comment says "this is an awful place, where you need to study night and day", that's a positive comment to me, even though it is classified as a negative comment. On the other hand, if a positive comment says "there are lots of chicks here and they are pretty easy", that's a negative comment to me, even though it is classified as a positive comment in "studentsreview". The negative comments on UT are focused on the misbehavior of the administration and on the weakness of out academic curricula. The negative comments about Grinnell College, for instance, are focused on "being in the middle of nowhere", "being overloaded with school work". I hope you see my points: those "negative" comments underline the fact that Grinnell is like a monastery for the development of knowledge, which is what a university is supposed to be (except in corporate America).
Agreed, good points. Thanks.
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