tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5211670216140060946.post5445155285457157140..comments2024-03-17T18:37:36.377-07:00Comments on Geotripper: Lazy Professors?Garry Hayeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00531226195147986457noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5211670216140060946.post-7510311160808269642014-05-29T13:37:23.901-07:002014-05-29T13:37:23.901-07:00Let me add my response in agreement of the last po...Let me add my response in agreement of the last poster, see directly above. I am one of two clerical staff in the math department of a state funded university. At maximum capactiy, we enroll 12,000 students. Our faculty numbers 36, half are instructors and half are tenured and tenure track professors, assistant professors, and associate professors. The average hours they teach at our school is 9 hours per week, with instructors teaching 12. Office hours are required to equal 4 per week. Regularly about 1/3 of our tenured faculty 'blow off' their office hours and are never available for student questions. As a result of this, we (staff) are barraged with every student issue, question, and situation imaginable. The chair then comes down on us if he feels we handled an issue in the wrong way, but he never disciplines the faculty for not keeping their office hours. There are never any repercussions for them even after numerous student complaints. One of the professors regularly has undergraduate students do all his grading (they are not hired for that, of course, and there are privacy laws). He has been "asked" not to do this but still does. Notice that I put asked in quotes; he was gently told not to continue doing this, no voices were even raised. Needless to say, it is still going on. Again, no repercussions even after students and staff have complained about this. Have they not heard of FERPA and HIPAA and other privacy laws? The illegality of this is mind boggling. Before I worked in this department, I worked for the physics department at another state school. The differences between how many hours the scientists put in weekly versus the mathematicians' schedules are staggering. Physicists were regularly there before and after me. Most of the math faculty only put in the 3 required class hours for each day and then leave for each day. Enrollment is dwindling at an alarming rate and the state is in arrears numbering in the millions to our school. What is scary is that we, the staff, feel that soon positions will be eliminated and those positions will probably be ours. We have 3 tenured faculty earning $105.000 - $125,000/year. Other tenured faculty and tenure track faculty make between $65,000 - $85,000/year. Instructors start at about $31,000. Staff, of course, is paid much less, yet we feel that we will be taking the hits soon. So I can see both sides of this debate. I worked in a very industrious department, but now I'm afraid I work with mostly slackers.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5211670216140060946.post-18720173131160020892012-04-06T13:30:42.240-07:002012-04-06T13:30:42.240-07:00The Myth of the Lazy College Professor--OBSERVED. ...The Myth of the Lazy College Professor--OBSERVED. I must add a different slant. Recently a new professor at a major Ca. Bay Area University moved into our neighborhood. We would like to have the same work hours that we see. Every other professional in the neighborhood leaves before dawn and comes home after dark while this professor MAYBE works 10 hours week-MAYBE. A tenured professor. Not emeritus status. No tough life there while this person works in the garage, mows the lawn and has a nice day of R & R while normal hardworking people of the world work hard. While students are digging into their pockets for tuition or the professional parents that I work with everyday struggle to come up with tuition money for their kids this fool exemplifies what is really wrong with the picture. Whack down the salaries of waste-of-time professors like this one and maybe all universities would not be in trouble. Sorry---but this is what the neighborhood observes MOST weekdays which does not fare well for professors boasting they have a tough work life as compared to most people these days. No..we don't sit home with binoculars watching this fool--at 5 am his house is dark while we all head into rush hour traffic.<br />The neighborhood gardeners (who get cancelled by their boss in the rain) work harder than this fool. No doubt a tenured six-figured salary in a (waste of time) major he teaches. Try medicine----or law----where you have no time to barely breathe during a stressful and hectic day. We come home to watch this illustrious, tenured professor fooling around in the garage or mowing the lawn or using his skill saw in the back yard. We come home--his car is in the driveway. Tough day. Fraud. Dishonesty?<br />Students/parents do NOT deserve to fund a salary for this self-centered fool. What a rip to the educational system. <br />Universities begging alumni for money while we watch this waste of a salary. Parents digging into pockets for tuition! Shame on Universities for allowing this. Shame on this university for allowing this! There ARE lazy professors skimming off the system.<br />There are good ones too---but NOT what we see in our neighborhood.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5211670216140060946.post-30792208344555944292012-03-29T14:48:36.845-07:002012-03-29T14:48:36.845-07:00This story makes me sad. I am a new student to Geo...This story makes me sad. I am a new student to Geology and I must say I have amazing professors who dedicate a large amount of their time to the betterment of their students. My Geology professor recently went on a three day trip to the Grand Canyon (the school is Rexburg, ID. At first this may sound fun, but when have you spent three days with 24 college students?! Try spending 14 hours in a car with 8 18-21 year-olds.<br /><br />I dont know how much they get paid and I dont care. I know that they sacrifice a lot for my education. The one-on-one attention I get and my fellow classmates get is astounding. <br /><br />Our educators deserve our respect!<br /><br />Mike<br />www.rokspea.blogspot.comrokspeahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13137648786180111101noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5211670216140060946.post-38947047780468541732012-03-28T18:27:07.976-07:002012-03-28T18:27:07.976-07:00Hi Garry,
I hear your distress. I am not involved...Hi Garry,<br /><br />I hear your distress. I am not involved in academic circles but I do note that your comments appear spot on from my undergraduate experience. Professors had to teach but they also had to conduct and supervise research to expand scientific knowledge... this then has to be packaged up in an understandable way for undergraduate and graduate students alike. Some professors were better than others, but we all have different skills.<br /><br />If academic staff have to spend all their time in the class room then there is very little chance for them to help develop new areas of understanding - there are many aspects of a job and teaching is important but not the only task.Rodhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10962789743908134314noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5211670216140060946.post-8072624404380725702012-03-28T15:09:01.928-07:002012-03-28T15:09:01.928-07:00I just finished an M.S. Geology degree at a Califo...I just finished an M.S. Geology degree at a California State University school. As far as I could tell, every professor in my department worked his/her rear off, semester after semester, with one exception. Lectures, labs, papers, grading, service obligations... they were the most beavering group of people I've ever met. And again, with that one exception, they were always trying to improve their teaching. The fact that most of them even squeezed in serious research impressed me even more.<br /><br />David C. Levy is an idiot.Karenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03079852628674185384noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5211670216140060946.post-29989913136031108682012-03-26T17:20:51.192-07:002012-03-26T17:20:51.192-07:00The author of that "opinion" piece wrote...The author of that "opinion" piece wrote: "In the unlikely event that [professors] devote an equal amount of time to grading and class preparation..."<br /><br />Ok, here's the truth: I spend at least twice as much time on grading, lesson planning, meeting with students, meeting with fellow faculty members, attending meetings, etc. as I do in the classroom.<br /><br />As Garry said, classroom teaching is just part of what professors do -- and it's often not the most important part. Meeting with students one-on-one, and giving them personal attention and encouragement is probably the most important thing we do at teaching institutions.<br /><br />At research institutions, professors spend a lot of unpaid time on grant writing. The grant will then support the research not only of the professor, but also of students, funding the research they need to complete their own degrees.<br /><br />In other words, David C. Levy, president of the education group at Cambridge Information Group, is ignorant -- and proved it on the Opinion page of the Washington Post!Randy A.noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5211670216140060946.post-77662748753145299062012-03-26T14:59:17.579-07:002012-03-26T14:59:17.579-07:00Right on!
As an informal educator I put in at lea...Right on!<br /><br />As an informal educator I put in at least 110%. I talk and help visitors 10 hours a day. Yet Park Rangers don't get the big bucks. But I LOve My Job!Gaelynhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05784162697113288888noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5211670216140060946.post-14890696999867032102012-03-26T13:40:24.680-07:002012-03-26T13:40:24.680-07:00One can always come up with examples of profs like...One can always come up with examples of profs like that, but in my experience this is not usually the case. I work with a lot of dedicated people. Something worth pointing out is that professors are given a great deal of training in research methods in their field, but little or no training in teaching methods. That grad students teach a lot of courses at universities is important because it is the only teaching experience they get.Garry Hayeshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00531226195147986457noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5211670216140060946.post-1156225288750146472012-03-26T13:26:52.846-07:002012-03-26T13:26:52.846-07:00That said, there are some professors who generally...That said, there are some professors who generally ARE lazy, not because they don't spend large portions of their time working, researching, or teaching, but because when they do teach they are lazy and half-hearted at it. One can only hope that these people are in the minority of professors worldwide.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com