[oclug] University of Ottawa LinuxFest2002

[Marc Fortier]

On Fri, 1 Mar 2002, Michael P. Soulier wrote:

> On 02/03/02 Arno Schulz did speaketh:
> 
>>> SNIP <<<
> 
>     Oh, I agree that the system is broken all around. I personally think the
> university system is obsolete and needs to be torn down, but they're held in
> such high regard that they're defended with some nonsense about tradition (a
> logical fallacy and the worst reason to do anything). The research they do is
> valuable, but they're obsolete as teaching facilities. 
> 
>     Mike
> 
I'm not sure I agree that the university system needs to be torn down.  Of 
course, my employer is the university of Ottawa, so maybe I'm biased.  :-)

However, I do believe some things have to change to "un-break" the system.  
First off, profs advance their careers by doing research and publishing 
papers that bring attention to the establishment for which they work.  
Teaching is an inconvenience for them at best, because it takes time away 
from their research.  They get NO recognition for the work they put in to 
teach a course well.  Contrary to popular beliefs among students, profs 
are people too.  They want to advance their careers, which means more 
research and less prep time for class.  If the university REALLY 
recognised good teachers (i.e. gave them more than just a pat on the 
back), perhaps the profs who like teaching could do more of that, and less 
research, and not feel like their career is stagnating.

The other thing universities have to realise is that PhDs do NOT 
necessarily make good managers.  Why must department chairs, deans, 
rectors, presidents, you name it, why do all of these high officials in a 
university structure have to be profs?  Why not hire professional managers 
to take these positions?

Oh well, maybe some day these PhDs will look up from gazing at their own
navels and see what I see.  I can only hope.

		Marc
-- 
Marc Fortier
@home:	mfortier at conscoop.ottawa.on.ca
@work:	mfortier at site.uottawa.ca