Questions and Answers

A respected college educator, who shall remain anonymous at his/her request, asked that his/her views be published. (Seems that a large number of us are worried about the culture and climate of vindictiveness!)I am happy to post it, with some small edits, here:

A college strike can raise many questions. One question that some faculty are asking themselves is "What type of educator tries to pit students against their teachers?" The reason that faculty are drawing a blank on this question is that real educators would never do such a thing. Yet that is exactly what ACAATO and our top management at the college did before and during the recent strike.

The realization that management aren't real educators goes a long way in explaining the workings of the college over the last few years. It has long been expected that current management didn't understand (and didn't care to understand) the importance of the teacher-student relationship. This is now proven by their willingness to sabotage that relationship. It also explains why some administrators are more interested in speaking with people who read about how things are done at other institutions rather than speaking with their own faculty. Other oddities make sense also: their use of "management by student survey", the Seinfeld meetings ("this is a meeting about nothing") and the medieval process they have established to approve new courses.

We have been preparing young and old for the workplace for 39 years. During all 39 of those years faculty have been able to deliver quality education to students. In some of those years this was done with management's help. In others it was done in spite of management's neglect or interference. Management's actions during the strike signal that this is a time when we must focus on delivering quality education in spite of management.

Thanks, our "name withheld" faculty member!