September 19, 2012

Had the landscaping man out to see what I could do to regain control of the front terraces. He loved the asters and the borage, which now shed blue and puple on the afternoon air.

It had been a while since I sat on a big senate-appointed academic committee. Went to my first meeting thereof this morning, where I was impressed by two things: first, the preparation and engagement of the chair, who was on top of all the intricacies of our complicated purlieu. I see why I don’t chair anything. I simply do not have the needful head for detail. The second was the percentage of our labor– about 80%, I would estimate– which was pointless homage to flawed (I’m tempted to say malicious) assessment directives from the administration. Most departments are bogged down by the same asininity, but as we are a cross-curricular oversight committee, the pitch of asininity is for us yet steeper. We are required to find a way to compare things which cannot be prepared, and though this problem has been pointed out fifty times, the assessment fairies yet insist that the write-up of a chemistry experiment and a sonnet can–must–be weighed in the same balance by the same people–people who would likely not understand either the write-up or the sonnet. Assessment as now enforced on campus does not evaluate curriculum. It deforms it. Every department meeting of every department involves some compromise of academic rigor in order to meet criteria set down by people for whom excellence is not especially desired, but perceived compliance is. The cart has been before the horse since that snake-like word “assessment” crept into some middle management wannabe’s vocabulary. The four tenured full professors on the committee were all for saying, “We’re not going to do this.” The others kept silence, and one understood their anxiety. On a high note, everything the administration could do to distract us from delivering quality education has likely been done. They’ve come up with nothing new lately, and the energy with which they insist on the old inanities seems to be flagging a little. Perhaps, like most wicked things, “assessment” will simply die of exhaustion. But we are basically collegial even if the administration is not. We try our best to come as close to what is asked of us as possible, not because we believe in what we’re doing, but because we don’t want to embarrass the hierarchy too much. Consideration lengthens our road. We consider where we are not considered, and I suppose, at the end of it, I prefer that–slightly-to simply refusing and putting an end to the charade. Our present Corporate Curriculum looks like it’s heading toward the graveyard of ill-considered policies, and that might be enough for the moment.

Incredible silence outside. Even the sleepless are asleep.