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Politics : Sharks in the Septic Tank -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: J. C. Dithers who wrote (51565)	6/20/2002 9:45:59 AM
From: Neocon	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 82486

I do know of places where sabbaticals are automatic, but perhaps it is not universal. I think that teaching and research functions may be combined, but they should not be confused, and funding should be, in essence, separate. I do not believe that anyone expects Milton Friedman to teach Econ 101. I do think that those who take upper level course would wish to have access to the stars, but even then, it should be in smaller classes, where there is really some professional expertise imparted. I do not think that professors should be obliged to spend 40 hours in the classroom. But I do think they they ought to dedicate themselves to teaching activities, including grading, office hours, departmental meetings, and so forth, unless expressly dividing time between research and teaching.

To: J. C. Dithers who wrote (51565)	6/20/2002 12:16:52 PM
From: The Philosopher	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 82486

I don't think most people appreciate the importance of productive research in a university, as opposed to the teaching mission. The key word there is productive. I don't object to productive research. But a vast amount of "research," particularly in the humanities, is totally non-productive. When I taught high school English composition, I would wander over to the Vassar library from time to time and pull PhD theses off the shelves at random and open them at random, and be virtually assured of a page of writing that was badly written, almost intentionally incomprehensible, and usually totally useless. It is too often a small group of people writing for a small group of people who are the only ones who will ever care. There are exceptions, of course, but not that many.