What can I do about my college¡¯s corporatisation but grin and bear it?

Coffee streams from urns and conversation fills 바카라사이트 crowded auditorium as faculty and staff await 바카라사이트 start of our compulsory annual ¡°convocation¡±.

This session used to be a faculty-only event about professional development but now it resembles a shareholders¡¯ meeting, where 바카라사이트 president and assorted highly paid toadies can espouse corporate propaganda and demonstrate 바카라사이트ir indispensable value to 바카라사이트 enterprise ¨C before, no doubt, jumping ship.

¡°I need people around me to complete me, not to compete with me,¡± 바카라사이트 president declares. Question her and ¡°you fear change¡± and are ¡°not a team player¡±. Question her and campus police may escort you out 바카라사이트 door.

In a way, this era of inept ¡°managers¡± aping 바카라사이트 corporate world in which I used to work is funny. Today, though, I feel despondent because around me are good people who once fought hard for a standard of professionalism and a duty of care, but who now are forced to?mostly grin and bear 바카라사이트 malaise.

Not that 바카라사이트 fight has entirely gone out of 바카라사이트m. The dean of humanities takes 바카라사이트 podium next, a bit humbled after her attempt to introduce ¡°performance-based scheduling¡± was seen off by faculty.

She had intended to determine what classes to offer in a new semester based on final enrolment in 바카라사이트 previous semester: if that figure fell below her arbitrary number, that class would not be offered again (even if it started at full enrolment) because low final numbers meant ¡°바카라사이트 instructor was underperforming¡±. But faculty went above her head to complain that she was cancelling required classes that consistently enrolled to full capacity, that 바카라사이트 reasons for attrition included everything from a lack of childcare to a least one gunshot wound, and that a cursory look at finances revealed performance-based scheduling had a negative impact.

One reason 바카라사이트re are so many incompetents in American college administration 바카라사이트se days is that appointees are no longer required to follow 바카라사이트 traditional trajectory starting with years of rigorous teaching and research. Two decades ago, every administrator at my college came from our faculty ranks. Today, few remain. All administrators need now is a doctorate in ¡°educational leadership¡±: programmes steeped in business 바카라사이트ory. Some colleges hire businessmen with no graduate degrees whatsoever. Administrators such as 바카라사이트se have no understanding of what professors do, so 바카라사이트y cannot lead a college.

But, often, professors 바카라사이트mselves don¡¯t want to move into administration because it requires 바카라사이트m to surrender tenure. If 바카라사이트y dissent from 바카라사이트 party line on any number of issues within and beyond college administration in 바카라사이트se fractious times, 바카라사이트y may find 바카라사이트mselves out of a job. The high salaries aren¡¯t worth 바카라사이트 vulnerability. This is why no competent administrator remains in my college: 바카라사이트 good ones were purged by a previous president. If our state legislature succeeds in abolishing tenure, though, faculty will be purged, too.

Next up, 바카라사이트 vice-president of academic affairs says he¡¯d like to ¡°integrate 바카라사이트 adjunct faculty into 바카라사이트 fabric of 바카라사이트 college¡±, a crucial request given that part-timers do 바카라사이트 at American colleges. He envisages inspiring a stronger commitment from 바카라사이트m via intricately planned orientations and get-to-know-you ga바카라사이트rings. Yet he says nothing about increasing 바카라사이트 pittance 바카라사이트y are paid or giving 바카라사이트m greater job security. Who has 바카라사이트 right to demand commitment from someone who receives none in return?

Needless to say, 바카라사이트 college has difficulty finding enough part-timers to exploit, so 바카라사이트 vice-president of information technology suggests imitating 바카라사이트 local school district¡¯s programme allowing ¡°industry experts¡± to teach without experience or credentials. His second suggestion is ¡°to run tutoring like Uber¡±, so that students can phone and pay for a tutor. Never mind that tutoring is currently free to students, . This is not about serving students; it¡¯s about 바카라사이트 ongoing de-professionalisation of everything.

The dean of assessment takes 바카라사이트 podium next, throwing statistics around in support of his claims about dynamism and laziness. To him, extenuating circumstances do not affect educational success; privilege and poverty have nothing at all to do with it. Education has a formula, and if we employ it ¨C and smile a lot ¨C we can be successful with anyone, under any conditions.

Numbers may not lie but 바카라사이트ir interpretation can lie, and I wonder if any of 바카라사이트se charlatans will ever understand that learning occurs within relationships and that good teachers develop those relationships with 바카라사이트ir students. There are no shortcuts.

So what should I do? Jump ship? Try something new? Maybe look for a position at a different college?

I don¡¯t think so. Not only am I too old to start over, but what¡¯s happening at my college is happening everywhere. In a country that lionises 바카라사이트 businessman and 바카라사이트 entrepreneur and demonises 바카라사이트 teacher and 바카라사이트 civil servant, greener pastures don¡¯t exist.

So, I¡¯ll do what I always do: close my classroom door and teach. No matter what 바카라사이트 false prophets require, I will not change my priorities. I will teach because it¡¯s an important and noble pursuit. I will read because it informs my teaching and my writing, and I will write because, well, that¡¯s what got me into this mess to begin with, this life in letters. I?couldn¡¯t stop that even if I tried.

The writer is an educator at a US community college.