The ‘New Tenure’?
These are my comments inspired by the article that Mike Rizzo pointed out ( http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2007/10/02/wcu). The main idea of the article is that other criteria, not just research, are now being considered as ‘credit’ towards tenure. Some of these non-research criteria mentioned were developing online tools for teachers to use in the classroom (which I got a good dose of this afternoon as the textbook marketers came to our department), projects related to helping local business, collecting oral histories locally, or even helping in local school. Mike also pointed out that his alma mater has given credit for ‘leading’ study abroad trips. I think that this subject could stir up a lot of debate depending on which side of the fence you sit. I myself, will give it to you from the prospective researchers side, as that is where I am going.
A comment on the article mentions that University professors are only different from K-12 educators in that they are producing new-knowledge as well as educating. He goes on to say that “Excellence in research does not diminish excellence in teaching and service” and here I have to disagree. I see it as on average, an ’either/or’ type situation.
Using myself as an example, I believe that I would be of far greater use to a research institution than a university (assuming I’d be on faculty) because I do not have a will to teach. It is not that I think I couldn’t do it, by all means I ‘could’ teach, its just that I feel that it is very important for a professor to ‘want to’ teach in order to be succesful. Because I would be more focused on my research, I believe I would not be as succesful in the classroom as some of my classmates who live to teach. My professors that have been influential in the classroom have all loved what they do! The professors who were hired because of great research and publishing credentials haven’t been so effective in the classroom for me. Again, I am speaking from experience and I am sure that there are some people out there who are stellar at both.
Why is it that the university professors have to be ‘different’ from the K-12 teachers? Can we not just hire great professors to teach and great researchers to research? Is it a lack of researchers that we are fighting here, do we tell professors that they have to research merely because we have no one else to do it? I don’t know, I’m just thinking out loud now. I’m not saying that I am all for this idea of ‘new tenure’, I am merely expressing the thought that I have often come across ‘bad teachers’ in my university experience and not so much so before the university. Maybe this ‘new tenure’ idea is a way to curb this and maybe not, but I feel that something needs to be done so that college professors are more focused on their teaching skills as opposed to publishing X-pages of quality research.
“Why is it that the university professors have to be ‘different’ from the K-12 teachers?”
Quinn raises some excellent questions. The textbook theory relies on the notion of there being complementarities between teaching and doing research. I am not sure one has to actually be DOING research to benefit from these as a teacher; I do think that researchers should at least be aware that their work is more valuable if they are able to effectively communicate it.
That said, some institutions are looking toward creating tenure-track teaching lines. I’d be a big fan - and surely would return to academia if that were the case. I think Duke is already doing something like it.