Teaching in summer is whirl-wind: compress sixteen weeks into six and call it an equivalent? I don't think so, especially when it comes to a literature course where one must read -- really read -- the texts and not just the SparkNotes for the texts. One of my colleagues at the U of M even called a lit course in the compressed summer session "unethical."
Interestingly, the course is full of non-Century students, at least three of whom already have degrees and one of whom is currently a high school teacher getting some continuing ed credits (he's taught for a dozen years, so I'm curious about his take on my style). None of the students is especially bright, although most are perfectly nice. No one stands out as a pleasure to work with -- one or two seem eager but not very skilled or practiced at reading or talking about reading. A couple make LOTS of excuses all the time. A couple never seem to do any of the course reading. But another couple of them may surprise me.
Most of the non-Century folks are from local private colleges, earning their "gen ed" credits where it's cheap. That feels a bit funny because their *experience* is cheap, too: a thin, diminished experience with literature when a college education should include a rich, robust experience with all that literature reveals/teaches/brings/invokes/stimulates.
But I'm a liberal arts gal, one not interested in "consuming" education. I'm out of step with my times, really. But I have to say I'm okay with that.
Evacuation roots
5 hours ago
1 comment:
I often feel the same way about summer ethics classes, in that we don't have the time for real reflection and deep discussion.
Logic, on the other hand, seems to be more difficult but perfectly ethical in the summer. We do the same sets of exercises and they are able to solve the same sets of proofs at the end. It is more difficult because they have less time to do the homework and/or ask for help if they get behind.
The first class I ever TA'd was in the summer, and the prof described it as an overall 'scam' -- he and I got paid like it was a regular semester, they paid for a regular semester and the whole thing was over in 3 intense weeks. Of course, I was the one doing the grading for a regular semester in just 3 weeks -- so it didn't seem like too much of a scam to me.
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