Arday's rise made me think of the old movie "Being There" with Shirley MacClaine and Peter Sellers where a simple minded gardner is elevated to a great philosopher.
After I completed my first masters degree, a former classmate who continued to adjunct for the program was very excited to tell me they admitted a student with special needs.
I said, “But wait… do any of the faculty in that department have certification in special education? That program was a lot of work, how is someone with a learning disability going to write that thesis paper?” (This was a Participatory Action Research (PAR) project/paper—sound familiar?)
My colleague said, “Well… you and I took that Professional Development workshop in arts activities for special needs students.”
I said, “Yes, but that course was for K-12 students and it was not certified. You and I both know the facilitators of that workshop were not certified either—they were artists. That one PD would, in no way, prepare me to teach special education in a masters degree program.”
I was then told the department was working with a “consultant.” This consultant was also a graduate from the program.
At the end of the school year, the same colleague said the head of the program took time to take all the notes for the student with special needs during the implementation of his PAR project.
When I was a graduate student, I wrote all my notes at the end of the day because writing my own notes helped me process what occurred. I used my notes to write my thesis paper.
“Wasn’t it wonderful of [the program head] to do that?” I said, “No, that means someone else did part of this student’s work for him. There’s a difference between making an accommodation for a student and doing his work for him. And you are all about to give him an advanced degree for work he didn’t do. What impact is that going to have on the field?” I didn’t get an answer.
Many college and university faculty want some things to be true so badly they will do anything, even do a student’s work for him, to make their desires come “true.” And then what happens? The credentialed graduate who didn’t do the work to get the degree, can be hired to teach in higher ed.
Not a bug of DEI; a feature.
What an insane world! It's people like you who should be teaching at Cambridge! Thank you for the summary of this insanity.
Arday's rise made me think of the old movie "Being There" with Shirley MacClaine and Peter Sellers where a simple minded gardner is elevated to a great philosopher.
After I completed my first masters degree, a former classmate who continued to adjunct for the program was very excited to tell me they admitted a student with special needs.
I said, “But wait… do any of the faculty in that department have certification in special education? That program was a lot of work, how is someone with a learning disability going to write that thesis paper?” (This was a Participatory Action Research (PAR) project/paper—sound familiar?)
My colleague said, “Well… you and I took that Professional Development workshop in arts activities for special needs students.”
I said, “Yes, but that course was for K-12 students and it was not certified. You and I both know the facilitators of that workshop were not certified either—they were artists. That one PD would, in no way, prepare me to teach special education in a masters degree program.”
I was then told the department was working with a “consultant.” This consultant was also a graduate from the program.
At the end of the school year, the same colleague said the head of the program took time to take all the notes for the student with special needs during the implementation of his PAR project.
When I was a graduate student, I wrote all my notes at the end of the day because writing my own notes helped me process what occurred. I used my notes to write my thesis paper.
“Wasn’t it wonderful of [the program head] to do that?” I said, “No, that means someone else did part of this student’s work for him. There’s a difference between making an accommodation for a student and doing his work for him. And you are all about to give him an advanced degree for work he didn’t do. What impact is that going to have on the field?” I didn’t get an answer.
Many college and university faculty want some things to be true so badly they will do anything, even do a student’s work for him, to make their desires come “true.” And then what happens? The credentialed graduate who didn’t do the work to get the degree, can be hired to teach in higher ed.
They wanted a black superstar and he delivered. It’s just that it was all fake but apparently that did not matter.
Academia has demonstrated that it is not the protector of ideas. It is the curator of dogma. Rational thought is not tolerated.