A reader Triin whose blog on Asperger's is located here has been kind enough to leave a link to the Aspie quiz which is a lot better than the short and unreliable Baron-Cohen test. It takes into account the neurology of Asperger's without getting too hung up on the qualities that are often attributed to Asperger's out of simple lack of knowledge about it.
I score 179 out 200, which is really not surprising to me.
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
College: What IS Our Children Learning?
I just read an interesting article in Harvard Magazine that discusses the frenetic pace today's undergrads set for themselves.
The problem with this frenzied lifestyle jammed with endless activities and assignments is that it leaves no space for thinking and creativity:
Often, I would see a student reading and ask them: "Are you reading this for fun?" They would stare at me with a terrified, deer-in-the-headlights look and say: "Oh no, this is for a class. Who's got the time to read for fun?" When even reading becomes yet another unwelcome but stoically survived chore, the future of education becomes very unpromising.
This overachieving streak in today's undergrads has gotten so bad that I always look hopefully at an occasional student who saunters into class late, forgets to prepare for a test and substitutes the answers with some creative personal statements, and to the question "Did you have fun on weekend?" answers with a loud "I'm still too hungover even to remember."
As teachers, we are to blame for this sad state of things just as much as anybody else. Often, university courses set as their main goal stuffing as much information as possible into the students' heads. In practical terms, this makes very little sense since most of the dates, numbers, and definitions that our students are asked to memorize can be easily found if needed through an Internet search engine. The most popular format for tests and mini-quizzes - a multiple choice test - pointedly leaves no room for creativity. Students are given choices and the only thing they are expected to contribute is a tick next to the "correct" choice. As a result, students feel completely lost when the format of a test is a blank page that has to be filled with their own thoughts.
We have to remember that there is no intellectual achievement without ample leisure time. I know I have said it before, but this needs to be repeated as often as possible. You cannot be creative on a schedule. Ideas don't get generated because there is a deadline. Originality of thought escapes from people who routinely go on 5 hours of sleep. Let's stop teaching our students to parrot what we say and start teaching them to think for themselves.
Students today routinely sprint through jam-packed daily schedules, tackling big servings of academic work plus giant helpings of extracurricular activity in a frenetic tizzy of commitments. They gaze at their Blackberries (nicknamed “Crackberries” for their addictive pull) throughout the day to field the digital traffic: e-mail and text messages, phone calls, Web access, and their calendars. Going or gone are late-night bull sessions with roommates and leisurely two-hour lunches—phone calls and texting punctuate meals, anyway.
“They are unbelievably achieving,” says Judith H. Kidd, formerly associate dean for student life and activities, who retired from Harvard last year. “They are always on. They prefer to be busy all the time, and multitask in ways I could not imagine. Students will sign up for three or four activities and take one of them up to practically NGO level.I have discussed this sad phenomenon with my students both at Ivy League schools and my current public school. They tell me that their lives are, indeed, a frenzy of assignments, extracurricular activities, commitments, cramming, and all-nighters. I routinely end my classes by saying "Have a nice day and don't work too much" or "Have a nice weekend and don't forget to have fun." These statements are always greeted with exhausted sardonic smiles and a litany of everything they need to accomplish before the end of the day (week, month, etc.)
The problem with this frenzied lifestyle jammed with endless activities and assignments is that it leaves no space for thinking and creativity:
The paradox is that students now live in such a blur of activity that idle moments for such introspection are vanishing. The French film director Jean Renoir once declared, “The foundation of all civilization is loitering,” saluting those unstructured chunks of time that give rise to creative ideas. If Renoir is right, and if Harvard students are among the leaders of the future, then civilization is on the precipice: loitering is fast becoming a lost art.As a result, our graduates know how to follow instructions and work themselves into an utter exhaustion but they have no idea how to think originally or express their creativity. Recently, students asked me for a a study guide for our next exam. "There is no study guide," I said. "You will have to express your own opinions on the texts we read and the paintings we have discussed." "Is there a study guide on how to do that?" asked one of the students very seriously. Once again, the most pressing question for us, the educators, is whether the goal of education is to produce people who can follow orders even at an enormous cost to themselves or people who know how to think and don't need a study guide to express their own opinions.
Often, I would see a student reading and ask them: "Are you reading this for fun?" They would stare at me with a terrified, deer-in-the-headlights look and say: "Oh no, this is for a class. Who's got the time to read for fun?" When even reading becomes yet another unwelcome but stoically survived chore, the future of education becomes very unpromising.
This overachieving streak in today's undergrads has gotten so bad that I always look hopefully at an occasional student who saunters into class late, forgets to prepare for a test and substitutes the answers with some creative personal statements, and to the question "Did you have fun on weekend?" answers with a loud "I'm still too hungover even to remember."
As teachers, we are to blame for this sad state of things just as much as anybody else. Often, university courses set as their main goal stuffing as much information as possible into the students' heads. In practical terms, this makes very little sense since most of the dates, numbers, and definitions that our students are asked to memorize can be easily found if needed through an Internet search engine. The most popular format for tests and mini-quizzes - a multiple choice test - pointedly leaves no room for creativity. Students are given choices and the only thing they are expected to contribute is a tick next to the "correct" choice. As a result, students feel completely lost when the format of a test is a blank page that has to be filled with their own thoughts.
We have to remember that there is no intellectual achievement without ample leisure time. I know I have said it before, but this needs to be repeated as often as possible. You cannot be creative on a schedule. Ideas don't get generated because there is a deadline. Originality of thought escapes from people who routinely go on 5 hours of sleep. Let's stop teaching our students to parrot what we say and start teaching them to think for themselves.
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Asperger's and Teaching
Often, people say: "Asperger's? But how can you possibly teach if you have it? It must be a torture!" They are wrong. Many people with Asperger's thrive as teachers. It's the unstructured, unscheduled and unplanned communications that are a struggle. If I can prepare for an encounter and especially if the roles are strictly defined (me - teacher, you - student), teaching offers a welcome release from some of the issues attendant on having Asperger's.
Except on bad days, of course. They don't happen often but they do happen. And when they do, many things become a lot more difficult. Speaking becomes kind of a challenge. Which is not a good thing for a huge lecture class. You start speaking and then you kind of blank out and stand there with your mouth wide open hoping that the words will come eventually. To make matters worse, today I scheduled an observer to come to my class. The colleague who came to observe is a very nice person, and even if he noticed my unexpected pauses I don't think he will mention them in a report. Still, it didn't make me happy to have observation coincide with one of the bad days.
As I wrote before, Asperger's has many positive sides and I would not be without it if you paid me for it. It's not all fun and games, however, and bad days prove that everything good comes at a price.
By the way, it took me almost an hour to write this short post because on bad days my vision also gets impaired and I keep hitting the wrong keys.
Not to worry, though. It usually goes away by the next day.
Except on bad days, of course. They don't happen often but they do happen. And when they do, many things become a lot more difficult. Speaking becomes kind of a challenge. Which is not a good thing for a huge lecture class. You start speaking and then you kind of blank out and stand there with your mouth wide open hoping that the words will come eventually. To make matters worse, today I scheduled an observer to come to my class. The colleague who came to observe is a very nice person, and even if he noticed my unexpected pauses I don't think he will mention them in a report. Still, it didn't make me happy to have observation coincide with one of the bad days.
As I wrote before, Asperger's has many positive sides and I would not be without it if you paid me for it. It's not all fun and games, however, and bad days prove that everything good comes at a price.
By the way, it took me almost an hour to write this short post because on bad days my vision also gets impaired and I keep hitting the wrong keys.
Not to worry, though. It usually goes away by the next day.
Did You Know That Ukraine…
This post first appeared as a guest post at Ktravula – a travelogue.
- Is the second largest country in Europe? (If we don’t count Russia, which is located in Asia for the most part, anyways.) Even among my blog visitors, I have had people who refer to Ukraine as “a tiny country in Eastern Europe.” One look at the map, however, is enough to demonstrate that Ukraine’s territory is large and its population is 1,5 times larger than the population of Canada.
- Has the most fertile soils in Europe? Ukrainian soil is so fertile that people have been known to remove the top level of soil and sell it to other countries simply because everything grows and flourishes on it.
- Has a tradition of democracy that dates back to the XVI century? This makes Ukraine a country with the most longstanding tradition of democracy in modern Europe.
- Started a sexual revolution around 1910? While people in the US and Western Europe had to wait until the mid-sixties for their sexual revolution, a famous Ukrainian writer and the future prime-minister of the first independent Ukrainian Republic Volodimir Vinnychenko dedicated his career as a writer to promoting the ideas of sexual liberation, free love, and the rights of women. His books were hugely popular all over Europe in the first half of the XXth century.
- Has a strong anti-imperialist tradition? In spite of being surrounded by fiercely imperialist countries, Ukraine never followed their example and absorbed the imperialist way of thinking. Even when Ukrainian troops would repel the invaders and enter the territory of the invading country, they would turn back and leave without trying to retain foreign territories.
- Had slavery until 1861? Under the name “serfdom”, the tradition of slavery existed and was very wide-spread in Ukraine until 1861.
- Was the site of one of the greatest modern genocides? In 1932-3, over 10 million Ukrainians were exterminated by the Soviet government in an attempt to wipe out any resistance to the imperial subjection of Ukraine by the Soviet Union. Today, the government of Russia is engaged in endless propaganda that denies that Ukrainian Holocaust ever took place.
- Has recently elected a convicted criminal to be its president? Viktor Yanukovich, a recently elected president of Ukraine, was incarcerated for robbery and assault in 1967 and for assault in 1970. It is said that his second crime was a rape that was eventually pleaded down to assault.
- Does not require a definite article before its name? Many people still say “the Ukraine” instead of “Ukraine.” Not only is this grammatically incorrect, it is also kind of annoying.
- Has one of the most melodic languages in the world? According to a study by the French Academy of Fine Arts, Ukraine has the world’s second most melodic language after Italian. I’m not sure that I agree about the entire world, but it’s definitely one of the most beautiful sounding languages in Europe. Sadly, the language is disappearing because centuries of colonial domination and propaganda cause many Ukrainians to be deeply ashamed of their cultural and linguistic heritage.
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Preparing for a Blogging Anniversary
On April 1, 2010 - one month and one day from now - I will celebrate my first real blogging anniversary. My blog will be celebrating the first year of its existence. In order to thank all my readers for their continued support and interest, I promise to answer all respectfully worded questions that you always wanted to ask but never did. Feel free to leave the questions in the comments section of this post or send them to clarissasblog@hotmail.com.
Report by the Coalition on the Academic Workforce
Coalition on the Academic Workforce has recently issued a report on the working conditions in academia. The report confirms everything that those who have worked in the higher education system have known, feared and warned against for a long time:
Even though non-tenure-track faculty could be working for the same university for decades, they are still discriminated against in terms of compensation and the opportunities open to them at their departments:
One of the suggestions that CAW makes to improve this situation is the following:
This is a great suggestion that addresses a very important issue. Parents who go to great lengths in order to send their children to renowned universities usually have no idea that the more well-known a university is, the less it is likely that their children will be taught by an actual tenured or at least tenure-track faculty members. Most undergraduate courses at Ivy League universities are taught by people who do not have a doctoral degree in the discipline they teach. In more modest schools, undergraduate students have a lot more chances of being taught by people who have a PhD in their field and who have an active and current research agenda in this field (which, of course, is indispensable to ensuring high quality teaching.)
Colleges keep trying to save money on the things that are of central importance, while huge sums of money are being wasted on unnecessary, silly things such as college sports teams, huge unnecessary buildings, investments into real estate, etc. University education should be about acquiring knowledge, first and foremost. In the recent decades, however, it seems like everybody has forgotten that the primary reason students come to college is to learn.
Over the last forty years, there has been a dramatic shift in the instructional staff at US colleges and universities. Increasingly, institutions of higher education have hired faculty members who are not on the tenure-track and, in large part, are hired in part-time positions. In 1970 faculty members in part-time positions represented only 22.0% of all faculty members teaching in US colleges and universities; in 2007 they represented 48.7%. Of faculty members who are fulltime, well over a third do not have access to tenure. When graduate teaching assistants are included in the calculations, barely onequarter of the instructional staff are full-time and have access to tenure.Just stop and think about this for a moment. Three quarters of the teaching faculty members are underpaid, overworked, underqualified, and have no job security. Three quarters of all people who teach college courses are terrified of losing their jobs if they say or do something the administration does not like. It's obvious that this system does irreparable damage to the quality of teaching.
Even though non-tenure-track faculty could be working for the same university for decades, they are still discriminated against in terms of compensation and the opportunities open to them at their departments:
Despite their permanence and vital contributions, full- and part-time non-tenure-track faculty members are often shortchanged by colleges and universities—in hiring, salaries, office space and equipment, as well as opportunities for review of job performance and professional development and advancement as both teachers and scholars.To put it more bluntly, the non-tenure-track faculty members are often treated as shit. Unless, of course, they are a family member of some completely shameless member of the college administration, who puts their power in service of this particular person. Which, in turn, always produces even more resentment and tensions among faculty members.
One of the suggestions that CAW makes to improve this situation is the following:
The number of tenure lines should be sufficient to cover courses in the upper-division undergraduate and graduate curricula and to ensure an appropriate presence of tenured and tenure-track faculty members in the lower division.
Colleges keep trying to save money on the things that are of central importance, while huge sums of money are being wasted on unnecessary, silly things such as college sports teams, huge unnecessary buildings, investments into real estate, etc. University education should be about acquiring knowledge, first and foremost. In the recent decades, however, it seems like everybody has forgotten that the primary reason students come to college is to learn.
Law and Order
Law & Order 
is my favorite show ever. I can watch reruns an endless number of times and never get tired of it. I even buy the show on DVD because I love grading papers and writing scholarly articles to it. Yesterday, we spent the entire day watching Season 7 on DVD.
When I first started watching it many years ago, I became convinced that New York is a horribly criminal city. The first time I went to visit New York, I fully expected to find a dead body under every bush. I refused to walk even 100 feet and insisted on taking a cab everywhere. When the people travelling with me suggested we go to Central Park, I was terrified. In Law & Order, there are always tons of cadavers lying all over Central Park, so I was appalled that my friends would suggest I go to such a scary place.
Of course, with time I realized that New York isn't that scary at all. I never found any dead bodies or severed body parts there. I did, however, encounter a set where the show was being filmed on my very first visit. Now, I can enjoy the show without worrying about the poor people of New York who have to live in the midst of all that criminality.
I don't know what I'll do if the show gets cancelled (there have been rumors to that effect).
is my favorite show ever. I can watch reruns an endless number of times and never get tired of it. I even buy the show on DVD because I love grading papers and writing scholarly articles to it. Yesterday, we spent the entire day watching Season 7 on DVD.When I first started watching it many years ago, I became convinced that New York is a horribly criminal city. The first time I went to visit New York, I fully expected to find a dead body under every bush. I refused to walk even 100 feet and insisted on taking a cab everywhere. When the people travelling with me suggested we go to Central Park, I was terrified. In Law & Order
, there are always tons of cadavers lying all over Central Park, so I was appalled that my friends would suggest I go to such a scary place.Of course, with time I realized that New York isn't that scary at all. I never found any dead bodies or severed body parts there. I did, however, encounter a set where the show was being filmed on my very first visit. Now, I can enjoy the show without worrying about the poor people of New York who have to live in the midst of all that criminality.
I don't know what I'll do if the show gets cancelled (there have been rumors to that effect).
Friday, February 26, 2010
What's Wrong With Sexting?
There was a hysterical article yesterday in St. Louis Post-Dispatch (hysterical not in the sense of being funny but in the sense of having been written in a fit of hysteria) about what needs to be done to prevent teenagers from sexting.
I wrote before about this anti-sexting paranoia which is obviously a sign of how sexually repressed the anti-sexting adults are. The only people in possession of a cell phone with a camera who haven't sent a sexually explicit picture of themselves are those who have absolutely no one to send it to. So where is the problem? The article in question tried hard to present sexting as some major social issue in need of discussion and regulation:
It's insane that some people should be so sex-starved that they would seriously consider criminalizing this harmless and fun activity.
I wrote before about this anti-sexting paranoia which is obviously a sign of how sexually repressed the anti-sexting adults are. The only people in possession of a cell phone with a camera who haven't sent a sexually explicit picture of themselves are those who have absolutely no one to send it to. So where is the problem? The article in question tried hard to present sexting as some major social issue in need of discussion and regulation:
What do you do about the 14-year-old kid who gets caught snapping lewd images of herself with her cell phone and sending them to her boyfriend, ultimately risking a worldwide audience?,asks the journalist in a ponderous tone. Well, why should any one do anything? Why shouldn't the 14 year-old be left in peace to take pictures and send them or not, whatever she decides? And, incidentally, why is it implied that teenage boys do not engage in sexting just as much? Since when is this either an exclusively teenage or an exclusively female thing?
It's insane that some people should be so sex-starved that they would seriously consider criminalizing this harmless and fun activity.
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Spring Break
Besides, I never had a real spring break beach vacation in all the long years that I was a student. Back at Yale, we, the poor students (all two of us) would sit at home sadly with our books while our rich colleagues would go party on the beach. Then, when I was teaching at Cornell it felt really annoying that my students could afford to go on spring break, while I couldn't. So now I have the chance to deal with my old resentments by finally going on a real spring break. :-)
My readers shouldn't worry, though, I will continue blogging from my BlackBerry right from the beach. :-) I just like saying the word "beach" so much.
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
The Nation Cruise
What are these people thinking? Couldn't they schedule it during some kind of holidays??
More Talks With My Students, Cnt'd
I am giving an oral exam in Spanish. The assignment is to talk about your ideal job.
Student: I want a job with a very good salary.
Me: How would you define a good salary?
Student: A good salary is above the minimum wage.
I don't know whether to be glad that students have such realistic expectations or to be sad that their hopes are so minimal.
Student: I want a job with a very good salary.
Me: How would you define a good salary?
Student: A good salary is above the minimum wage.
I don't know whether to be glad that students have such realistic expectations or to be sad that their hopes are so minimal.
What I'm Reading Right Now
I always read half a dozen books at the same time. There are books for all kinds of moods and purposes among them. This is what I'm reading right now and why:
1. Almudena Grandes, a well-known Spanish writer once wrote a hugely famous pornographic novel The Ages of Lulu
. Since then, she has been trying very hard to show that she can do something other than pornography. (I do not recommend The Ages of Lulu as pornographic reading because it's really unappetizing kind of pornography. Although there is no accounting for tastes. I analyzed the novel in my doctoral dissertation and feel beyond fed up with its inept porn scenes.)
The main reason why I decided to read this author's El Corazon Helado/ The Frozen Heart
is that it is 1200 pages long. I love endlessly long novels. Even though it's a mild form of exercise to keep this volume in your hands. (saly, it's not available on Kindle yet).
This novel about the Spanish Civil War and its aftermath turned out to be pretty good. It even made me cry twice. And I'm only on page 537.
2. This is my mystery novel du jour. I picked it up because the main character is a psychoanalyst who is being pursued by a deranged former patient. Or a deranged child of a deranged former patient.
I have to say this is the weirdest mystery novel I have read for a while (and I read detective novels all the time.) Not only does the psychoanalyst have a pretty poor command of the English language, he is also a pretty freaky individual. You go into therapy with somebody this weird, you'll come out a lot more messed up.
I've been reading this book in bits and snatches for the past week and it always puts me to sleep in ten minutes or less. So I feel very rested.
It isn't a really bad book or anything. It's just very weird.
3. This book by a Canadian professor is brilliant. It discusses many of the important issues that the higher education system faces today in North America.
As somebody who was worked both for Ivy league schools and a public university, I can appreciate the truth of what Giroux is saying.
How can we talk of a higher education if the system is under the growing control of corporate entities? Should the purpose of higher education be to create obedient zombi-like robots, willing to sacrifice their lives in the service of their employers? Or should we remember that the purpose of higher education is to educate students as thinking individuals, capable of being responsible citizens, aware of the world around them?
Great book, even though it is sadly unavailable on Kindle.
4. Howard Zinn died recently and among the flurry of obituaries dedicated to him, I suddenly realized that - to my great shame - I never read any of his books. So I bought this one.
I only just started reading it, so my impressions for now are minimal. At this point, I can say that even though he is not as good as Eric Hobsbawm
(my favorite historian), his writing style is clear and precise.
I will share my impressions when I'm done.
5. This is another detective novel I'm reading. But this one is actually work-related.
I am preparing a talk based on this novel for a conference in my field. I really wanted to attend this conference for personal reasons (it will take place in Montreal, my home and my favorite city in the world!). There were no sessions of even remote interest to me, though, except a session on detective novel in Spain.
So I thought that since I spend so much time (and money) reading (and buying) detective novels, I could put all this effort to good use by turning the detective genre into my new research. And then the university will pay for the mystery novels I buy.
This novel is really good. It is written so well and the language is so delicious that you even forget to care who the killer is. And that is no easy feat to accomplish for a mystery author.
1. Almudena Grandes, a well-known Spanish writer once wrote a hugely famous pornographic novel The Ages of Lulu
. Since then, she has been trying very hard to show that she can do something other than pornography. (I do not recommend The Ages of Lulu as pornographic reading because it's really unappetizing kind of pornography. Although there is no accounting for tastes. I analyzed the novel in my doctoral dissertation and feel beyond fed up with its inept porn scenes.)The main reason why I decided to read this author's El Corazon Helado/ The Frozen Heart
is that it is 1200 pages long. I love endlessly long novels. Even though it's a mild form of exercise to keep this volume in your hands. (saly, it's not available on Kindle yet).This novel about the Spanish Civil War and its aftermath turned out to be pretty good. It even made me cry twice. And I'm only on page 537.
2. This is my mystery novel du jour. I picked it up because the main character is a psychoanalyst who is being pursued by a deranged former patient. Or a deranged child of a deranged former patient.
I have to say this is the weirdest mystery novel I have read for a while (and I read detective novels all the time.) Not only does the psychoanalyst have a pretty poor command of the English language, he is also a pretty freaky individual. You go into therapy with somebody this weird, you'll come out a lot more messed up.
I've been reading this book in bits and snatches for the past week and it always puts me to sleep in ten minutes or less. So I feel very rested.
It isn't a really bad book or anything. It's just very weird.
3. This book by a Canadian professor is brilliant. It discusses many of the important issues that the higher education system faces today in North America.
As somebody who was worked both for Ivy league schools and a public university, I can appreciate the truth of what Giroux is saying.
How can we talk of a higher education if the system is under the growing control of corporate entities? Should the purpose of higher education be to create obedient zombi-like robots, willing to sacrifice their lives in the service of their employers? Or should we remember that the purpose of higher education is to educate students as thinking individuals, capable of being responsible citizens, aware of the world around them?
Great book, even though it is sadly unavailable on Kindle.
4. Howard Zinn died recently and among the flurry of obituaries dedicated to him, I suddenly realized that - to my great shame - I never read any of his books. So I bought this one.
I only just started reading it, so my impressions for now are minimal. At this point, I can say that even though he is not as good as Eric Hobsbawm
(my favorite historian), his writing style is clear and precise.I will share my impressions when I'm done.
5. This is another detective novel I'm reading. But this one is actually work-related.
I am preparing a talk based on this novel for a conference in my field. I really wanted to attend this conference for personal reasons (it will take place in Montreal, my home and my favorite city in the world!). There were no sessions of even remote interest to me, though, except a session on detective novel in Spain.
So I thought that since I spend so much time (and money) reading (and buying) detective novels, I could put all this effort to good use by turning the detective genre into my new research. And then the university will pay for the mystery novels I buy.
This novel is really good. It is written so well and the language is so delicious that you even forget to care who the killer is. And that is no easy feat to accomplish for a mystery author.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
First Impressions: Job Interview, Part II
It always feels very strange to discover how people perceive you. And how different it is from the way you perceive yourself. Recently, I discovered that the things that people noticed the most about me during my job intervew were:
1. That I'm obssessed with my BlackBerry. People say that I kept touching it and looking at it during the entire campus visit. I noticed today that it's true. I do keep looking at it all the time. Which is incredibly rude. And I had no idea I was doing it.
2. That I'm "nice, fun, and outgoing." That's really weird for me to hear about myself. I always think that I'm mean, boring, and the opposite of outgoing. (Can anybody help me out with an antonym for 'outgoing'? I've been teaching all day long and now I can't say anything in any language.) It is as shocking as reading in student evaluations that I'm "cheery, happy" and have "a sunny personality." I really prefer to see myself as dark, complex, mysterious, and tortured. And it turns out that other people see me as some kind of a cheerleader type. This is so weird.
1. That I'm obssessed with my BlackBerry. People say that I kept touching it and looking at it during the entire campus visit. I noticed today that it's true. I do keep looking at it all the time. Which is incredibly rude. And I had no idea I was doing it.
2. That I'm "nice, fun, and outgoing." That's really weird for me to hear about myself. I always think that I'm mean, boring, and the opposite of outgoing. (Can anybody help me out with an antonym for 'outgoing'? I've been teaching all day long and now I can't say anything in any language.) It is as shocking as reading in student evaluations that I'm "cheery, happy" and have "a sunny personality." I really prefer to see myself as dark, complex, mysterious, and tortured. And it turns out that other people see me as some kind of a cheerleader type. This is so weird.
Bosses
Often, people think that if somebody is very good at what they do, this automatically qualifies them to be promoted to a leadership position. This, of course, could not be farther from the truth. It works the same in academia and in the corporate world. Somebody can be a top performer, or a fantastic scholar and teacher, but when promoted to be the leader of the group (the manager, the departmental Chair, the Dean, etc.), they turn out to be completely inept in this new position and end up destroying the team, the company, or the department.
Being a good boss and a leader of people is a gift that is entirely separate from any other achievements an employee might have. I do not possess this gift in the least, but my admiration for those who do is profound. We all know what a bad boss is like and how fast an inept leader can destroy years of progress made by a team, a company, or a department. Good bosses are a rarer breed. At least, in my experience and in the experience of my friends and relatives.
I have come to appreciate what it means to have a good boss in the past year. (As of now, my boss still doesn't know that this blog exists, so I can write nice things about her to my heart's content without feeling like a brown-nosing idiot.) I have a great boss, people. And when I say great, I don't mean a nice, cute, giggly pushover. This is a person who is insanely hardworking and she pushes everybody to work just as much. She lives at the department and we get messages from her evenings, nights, weekends, holidays, etc.
But she also knows how to motivate exceptionally lazy employees whose only goal is to procrastinate and have a good time (for those who are new to this blog, that would be me). I have never in my life thought I would volunteer for as many things as I do. And the only reason I do it is because I want to do something nice for my great boss.
The way she does it is by showing that she really cares about the employees. A day doesn't go by when she doesn't come by my office to ask how I feel, if everything is ok, if I need anything, if I'm getting all the materials and support I need for my work, if all of my issues have been resolved to my satisfaction. As a new employee, I don't know how things work yet but I have my boss constantly on the lookout against any unfairness that might be committed against me. I don't even need to watch out for my interests because I have somebody to do that for me.
Another thing she does (and I have no idea whether it is intentional or not) is activities that make you feel encouraged at the most difficult points in the semester. Sometimes, you feel exhausted and only want to go home and sleep. And then, you would get a letter or a card from the boss listing all the things that are wonderful about you. And then, of course, you have a surge of energy to be even more productive.
Having a good boss truly makes all the difference in the world.
Being a good boss and a leader of people is a gift that is entirely separate from any other achievements an employee might have. I do not possess this gift in the least, but my admiration for those who do is profound. We all know what a bad boss is like and how fast an inept leader can destroy years of progress made by a team, a company, or a department. Good bosses are a rarer breed. At least, in my experience and in the experience of my friends and relatives.
I have come to appreciate what it means to have a good boss in the past year. (As of now, my boss still doesn't know that this blog exists, so I can write nice things about her to my heart's content without feeling like a brown-nosing idiot.) I have a great boss, people. And when I say great, I don't mean a nice, cute, giggly pushover. This is a person who is insanely hardworking and she pushes everybody to work just as much. She lives at the department and we get messages from her evenings, nights, weekends, holidays, etc.
But she also knows how to motivate exceptionally lazy employees whose only goal is to procrastinate and have a good time (for those who are new to this blog, that would be me). I have never in my life thought I would volunteer for as many things as I do. And the only reason I do it is because I want to do something nice for my great boss.
The way she does it is by showing that she really cares about the employees. A day doesn't go by when she doesn't come by my office to ask how I feel, if everything is ok, if I need anything, if I'm getting all the materials and support I need for my work, if all of my issues have been resolved to my satisfaction. As a new employee, I don't know how things work yet but I have my boss constantly on the lookout against any unfairness that might be committed against me. I don't even need to watch out for my interests because I have somebody to do that for me.
Another thing she does (and I have no idea whether it is intentional or not) is activities that make you feel encouraged at the most difficult points in the semester. Sometimes, you feel exhausted and only want to go home and sleep. And then, you would get a letter or a card from the boss listing all the things that are wonderful about you. And then, of course, you have a surge of energy to be even more productive.
Having a good boss truly makes all the difference in the world.
Plagiarism
In one of my classes we were watching an Argentinean movie The Official Story (La historia oficial)
. It is a very tragic story that explores the horrible aftermath of the military dictatorship in Argentina. Of course, I've seen the film many times, so while the students were watching it, I was grading papers for a different course. While grading, I discovered a blatant case of plagiarism among the essays submitted to me. Not only was a text copy-pasted from a website, it was also a really silly, horribly written text, full of factual errors.
Plagiarism is the only thing students can do that makes me very angry. In literally saw red when I discovered it. My blood pressure went up and I felt horrible. Right then, the movie ended with a very tragic scene. We turned the lights on, and obviously the students noticed that I was visibly shaken (by the plagiarism, not the movie.)
As a result, the students decided that I must be a very sensitive person to be brought near tears by a film I have seen many times before. I overheard two of my students discussing my unusual sensitivity after class. :-)
I do recommend the movie, though. You do feel shaken to the core by it at the first viewing.
. It is a very tragic story that explores the horrible aftermath of the military dictatorship in Argentina. Of course, I've seen the film many times, so while the students were watching it, I was grading papers for a different course. While grading, I discovered a blatant case of plagiarism among the essays submitted to me. Not only was a text copy-pasted from a website, it was also a really silly, horribly written text, full of factual errors.Plagiarism is the only thing students can do that makes me very angry. In literally saw red when I discovered it. My blood pressure went up and I felt horrible. Right then, the movie ended with a very tragic scene. We turned the lights on, and obviously the students noticed that I was visibly shaken (by the plagiarism, not the movie.)
As a result, the students decided that I must be a very sensitive person to be brought near tears by a film I have seen many times before. I overheard two of my students discussing my unusual sensitivity after class. :-)
I do recommend the movie, though. You do feel shaken to the core by it at the first viewing.
Monday, February 22, 2010
Leftist Realtors: A New Economic Reality
You know for sure that the economy is deeply in the toilet when The Nation
, the most liberal, leftist, progressive magazine in the US starts publishing announcements from realtors who, in their desperation, claim to be commie-pinko followers of this magazine. Here are some choice samples of such adverts:
Santa Fe. Progressive realtor seeks same in clients.
Realtor seeks clients of the same persuasion as a Nation subscriber.
LEFT COAST, US. Work with the Realtor Who's on Your Side.
Realtor seeks progressive clients.
Of course, it's nice to see that many realtors have suddenly got in touch with their progressive beliefs. However, my cynical side tells me (I sincerely hope that I'm being too paranoid and these are actually leftist realtors) that the realtors' bleeding hearts are the result of the disastrous real estate market.
I love The Nation becase it never ceases to surprise me.
, the most liberal, leftist, progressive magazine in the US starts publishing announcements from realtors who, in their desperation, claim to be commie-pinko followers of this magazine. Here are some choice samples of such adverts:Santa Fe. Progressive realtor seeks same in clients.
Realtor seeks clients of the same persuasion as a Nation subscriber.
LEFT COAST, US. Work with the Realtor Who's on Your Side.
Realtor seeks progressive clients.
Of course, it's nice to see that many realtors have suddenly got in touch with their progressive beliefs. However, my cynical side tells me (I sincerely hope that I'm being too paranoid and these are actually leftist realtors) that the realtors' bleeding hearts are the result of the disastrous real estate market.
I love The Nation
becase it never ceases to surprise me.
Poor Ross Douthat Still Ain't Getting Any
Would some charitable individual just fuck Ross Douthat of the NY Times already and spare us the boredom of his weekly "I-hate-everybody-who-has-sex-because-I-haven't-been-getting-any-for-the-past-decade" opinion column? As spring is approaching, Douthat is getting into his public fits of hysteria over other people's sex lives more and more often. Not surprising, since he so obviously has none of his own.
Today's column is dedicated to Douthat gushing with admiration (the only thing he's been gushing with for oh, so long) over the tabloids' prurient interest in the sex lives of famous people. Oh, how much the sex-deprived Douthat would love to dedicate his life to going through the dirty underwear of politicians, actors, and athletes. Revealing who slept with whom when and in what position has an important social purpose. Besides giving Douthat an outlet for his unrequited sexuality, that is. According to Douthat,
As usual, the "why-are-the-Democrats-incapable of-bipartisanship" Douthat cannot refrain from showing us his blatant use of double standards. (Of course, he would gladly show us something else, but nobody is willing to look.) Where McCain has a
But why would a NY Times journalist care about all those things when he can gasp over the real horror of an extramarital affair.
Today's column is dedicated to Douthat gushing with admiration (the only thing he's been gushing with for oh, so long) over the tabloids' prurient interest in the sex lives of famous people. Oh, how much the sex-deprived Douthat would love to dedicate his life to going through the dirty underwear of politicians, actors, and athletes. Revealing who slept with whom when and in what position has an important social purpose. Besides giving Douthat an outlet for his unrequited sexuality, that is. According to Douthat,
there’s a case for erring on the side of prurience. Some private acts should be publicly disqualifying, and the media need to be willing to go digging for them.You can just imagine Douthat foaming at the mouth with his enthusiasm for digging for the information on the sex acts of others.
As usual, the "why-are-the-Democrats-incapable of-bipartisanship" Douthat cannot refrain from showing us his blatant use of double standards. (Of course, he would gladly show us something else, but nobody is willing to look.) Where McCain has a
complicated relationship with a female lobbyistBill Clinton engages in "philandering". Douthat's attempts to attract attention to the sex scandals within the Democratic Party (which even by the most modest calculations never come close to the staggering numbers of sex scandals among the sex-starved Republicans) lead him to pronouncements that are nothing short of shameless:
If the supermarket tabloid’s reporters hadn’t gone digging where other journalists declined to even tread, we might never have learned how close the Democratic Party came to nominating a truly disgraceful character for the presidency.Imagine that, a disgraceful character as a presidential nominee, or possibly even as the President. But wait, that's nothing new. We'd had a really disgraceful character as our president for 8 endless years. And his crimes were kind of a little more serious than having a child out of wedlock. Like lying to the American people in order to start an illegitimate unnecessary war that would bring death to thousands. Or authorizing torture. Or taking away our constitutional freedoms. or destroying the middle class.
But why would a NY Times journalist care about all those things when he can gasp over the real horror of an extramarital affair.
Lying Anti-Women Doctors
The funniest thing is that these so-called doctors would not be able to make a living without women. They need us for their livelihood but they hate us all the same. They use these vile intimidation techniques in hopes that if you show these cartoonishly stupid pictures of fetuses - that have no connection with reality whatsoever - women would be bullied into feeling bad for controlling their own bodies.
Why don't we see this, a lot more realistic picture on the walls of our gynecologists' offices? Why should we be exposed to lies and humiliations when we go to a see a doctor? What would we think of a cardiologist who put up the following picture on his wall to illustrate what your heart looks like after a heart attack:
If we were confronted by this silly cartoon in a cardiologist's office, we'd say he is an illiterate quack, wouldn't we? So why should we hold Ob-Gyns to a different standard? Why should we be fed lies right in the doctor's office? Is it too much to expect that I doctor would come to work to treat patients, not to brainwash them?If a doctor greets you wth lies the second you enter his office, how can you trust anything he says?
Why is it that women cannot be left in peace - without somebody rushing over to hector, brainwash, humiliate and patronize us - even we seek medical care?
Anti-Choice Propaganda at the OB-Gyn's Office
As you can see, a fetus at 1 to 12 weeks looks like a fully formed human being and is absolutely the same as a fetus at 40 weeks. Well, it looks a little skinnier at 1 week than at 40 weeks. And that's the only difference I could find.
It's beyond frustrating that patients have to be exposed to these lies right in the doctor's office. Do people who make and exhibit this junk think women are stupid? How offensive is this?
It's unbelievable that not ontly does this particular doctor sell Botox injections as gynecological procedures, he also believes it's ok to exhibit this lying rubbish on his walls.
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Sunday, February 21, 2010
Who Works More: Student Responses
In the listening comprehension part of my Spanish language course, there was the following statement: "Teresa's father works as much as her mother." When answering the question "Who works more, Teresa's mother or Teresa's father?", only 20% of students got the answer right. Academically, it tells me they are still not very comfortable with the Spanish expressing "tanto como" which in English means "as much as." This is no big deal because we have a lot more time until the end of the semester to get this construction right.
What is a lot more disturbing, though, is the sexist nature of the answers coming from the students who did not recognize this construction and decided to guess the correct answer. Every single one of them guessed that Teresa's father works more than her mother. Even though there was absolutely nothing in the text to lead them in that direction. If it were a matter of simple, ideologically untainted guesswork, at least some of the 80% of students who got this answer wrong would say that the mother works more. Somehow, the students' vision of men and women still revolves around the father who works hard and the mother who does a lot less. This makes me very sad because in the low-income families these students for the most part come from, women in all probability work full-time jobs and contribute as much as men. Their contribution, however, is overshadowed by the ideology that presents women as working less than men.
What is a lot more disturbing, though, is the sexist nature of the answers coming from the students who did not recognize this construction and decided to guess the correct answer. Every single one of them guessed that Teresa's father works more than her mother. Even though there was absolutely nothing in the text to lead them in that direction. If it were a matter of simple, ideologically untainted guesswork, at least some of the 80% of students who got this answer wrong would say that the mother works more. Somehow, the students' vision of men and women still revolves around the father who works hard and the mother who does a lot less. This makes me very sad because in the low-income families these students for the most part come from, women in all probability work full-time jobs and contribute as much as men. Their contribution, however, is overshadowed by the ideology that presents women as working less than men.
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