Curiouser and curiouser

Curiouser and curiouser is all I can say. The crazy online university I have been privileged to pay my discretionary income to for the past six years has decided to take away Dr. C., my new (full-time, punctual, reliable, thorough, and trustworthy) dissertation chairperson and restore Dr. G., the former (part-time, flaky, incompetent, untrustworthy) chairperson that I had previously. Huh. Go figure. After all the propaganda about moving to a new full-timer mentor model, now this? I can only presume that means they hired Dr. G. full-time, which if true speaks volumes about conditions at this online institution. If they really did hire Dr. G. full-time, I can only conclude they don't pay attention to and/or care about student evaluations (see RateMyProfessor), and they don't check competency or mentoring skills. In short, they are desperate.

I know all about being hired in desperation. That is how I got my current job teaching at the career college. The program director hung onto my resume for two years, before desperation compelled her to dig to the bottom of her desk drawer for some sorry loser that was so marginal he or she might actually still be unemployed. She called me in on a Friday, and after a brief conversation, apparently decided I met the hiring criteria (alive and willing), and handed me two books. “The term starts Monday,” she said. “Be here at 7:30. Good luck!”

After I read the e-mail about the change in mentors, I thanked the person at the university who informed me of this unexpected turn of events, and in my e-mail I expressed my concern, as diplomatically as I could, while not actually claiming outright that Dr. G. is an incompetent flake. After all, that is just my opinion, based on very few interactions with her over the course of about five months. Not enough data to make such a claim. And really, who would take me seriously if I did make such a claim? I know what goes on in educational institutions when students complain. I'm a teacher, too. It's us against them.

I try to be the kind of student I wish all my students would be: conscientious, responsible, and not flaky. Let me give you some examples of flaky. A flaky student turns in an ethics essay full of cliches, grammar errors, and frothy emotional appeals, and then says, “I didn't have enough time to finish it because it was my sister's birthday.” Or she turns in an Access database assignment in which she tried to save each Access table as an individual file. Or he turns in a test that is half-blank, saying he was up half the night working on a paper for another class. Or he claims his mother accidentally laundered his flashdrive. Or she whines that someone stole all her books when her car was busted into when she was out dancing until two a.m. the night before. Or she asks a fellow classmate to inform you that she has to miss class because she is getting a tattoo.... well, you get my drift, right? Flaky. I try not to be like that. I offer no excuses for my sloppy logic, my bad grammar, or my misaligned problem and purpose statements.

I'm sure I have more to say, but my cat has decided it is time to stop whining. He always knows best. Signing off.