tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20035359.post2384924973568892797..comments2024-03-21T14:19:30.671-05:00Comments on Higher Ed/: The Irony of Good Intentionsdavehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08633920160358488401noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20035359.post-74144765226643086792009-10-07T13:53:06.640-05:002009-10-07T13:53:06.640-05:00>>Gaye Tuchman is quoted as saying:
>>...>>Gaye Tuchman is quoted as saying:<br /><br />>> Universities are no longer to lead the minds of students to grasp truth; to grapple with >>intellectual possibilities; to appreciate the best in art, music, and other forms of culture; >>and to work toward both enlightened politics and public service. Rather they are now to >>prepare students for jobs. They are not to educate, but to train.<br /> <br /> Uh-huhn. She probably thinks Universities have become "too corporate." I used to love to tell students that universities were not only the first corporations, the entire concept of incorporation was invented in order to create universities. The first corporation was the U. of Bologna created by, who else? His Holiness the Pope! hey, he can turn a cracker into the body of Christ, so why not turn a bunch of students into a single body called a "university"? By the way, the U. of Paris, incorporated a few decades later, was a corpus of professors and not of students, which, as it turned out, worked much better for reasons I can explain only with a glass of scotch in my hands.<br /> <br /> But your friend, Gaye, also thinks that colleges and universities were placed for cogitation rather than professional training, which of course is twaddle. The reason they existed was to train clergy, lawyers, and doctors. Only in the famouse booghewah century--the nineteenth--did the notorious booghewazie send their sons to universities in order to pick up a patina of kulcher (pace: Ezra Pound.) Of course, the teachers' colleges, mining schools, engineering colleges, and agricultural colleges were to train professionals in their respective fields. They were quickly enfolded into universities for reasons of efficiency.<br /> <br /> So, I guess your correspondent Gaye, really prefers the concept of college as a finishing school and leisure spa for the boys and girls with trust funds, which places like Williams and Mt. Holyoke (not to mention Princeton and Dartmouth, etc. ) were, and I suppose, still are. But even the Ivy's still offered training for engineers, physicians, teachers, and the like.<br /> <br /> Just my two cents worth.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20035359.post-71193282974198208822009-10-07T12:26:05.036-05:002009-10-07T12:26:05.036-05:00JUS, hehe, there wasn't really a shortcut toda...JUS, hehe, there wasn't really a shortcut today, of course--that was just the ironic send-off. I've learned my lesson on those:<br /><br />Wife: It looks like we're driving back into the city<br />Me: No, it can't be. I turned south on 51.<br />(a few minutes later)<br />Wife: See...the skyscrapers are getting bigger. <br />Me: (in total denial) The road will turn any minute here, and we'll head back south.<br /><br />I still haven't lived that one down.<br /><br />As for the delegattos, the trick is obviously to hire good people and get out of their way. I've had some painful experiences (as it sounds like you have) getting to that point, though. I didn't even get two days when my one and only database admin quit on one job. I still have nightmares...davehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08633920160358488401noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20035359.post-68203359598440586552009-10-07T11:18:25.941-05:002009-10-07T11:18:25.941-05:00How did the shortcut work out?
So, you've ded...How did the shortcut work out?<br /><br />So, you've deduced the existence of the Irony Engine, eh? <br /><br />+1<br /><br />Interesting the think about the capacity of individuals to maintain a high order of understanding of the components of their responsibility. It seems that as administrators (like me) take on more (R)esponsibility, we necessarily dilute our once intimate (or unreasonably confident) knowledge of those things we manage. Those things become more numerous, or more costly to mis-manage. The former situation is the one we call having a lot of plates in the air. The second is more akin to having a few angry nukes in the air. In any event, as R gets bigger, often based on the faith of colleagues who admired our ability to manage R-n, we either have to find more capacity to manage more (or more difficult) things, or to manage them less directly... that is to say without as much direct involvement, which is what we call delegating to R-n colleagues. <br /><br />Were these delegattos to supply us with the full spectrum of their understanding of the status of the delegated things, it would defeat the purpose of delegating. So the administrator and their delegatto (or delegatta) scheme up a shorthand to let the administrator know which of the Fundemental Managed States the delegated thing is in. The delegatto/a reports these broad statii:<br /><br />On Target = "I just started working here last week and am discovering that there are delegated things. Everything looks OK from my angle. Everything is under control."<br /> <br />Under Control = "The delegated things are acting up, Boss, but I'll take responsibility if things become dicey." <br /><br />Dicey = "The delegated things are out of control, Boss, but I saw something on Star Trek that I'll try. If that doesn't work, we may need to meet." <br /><br />Need to meet = "I've lost control of the delegated things. Others have noticed and I just got an attractive job offer from W*lmart. I'm giving my two weeks' notice."<br /><br />Two weeks' notice: The amount of time the delegatto commits to training up a new delegatto on the status of their delegated things. Often, this coincides with a request to use untaken vacation days. Including the last day party, and gossiping about what bad shape the delegated things are in and how nice the new job will be, actual training is about 2 hours. Managed poorly, this state of affairs can rapidly lead to the administrator's state of R-R.<br /><br />The administrator who either has a large capacity for details, or who repeatedly manages the "Two Weeks' Notice" state of delegated things well will go far in his or her career.bdhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12363138274673033039noreply@blogger.com