\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0A journalism student at Highlands, writing about a pair of students who had applied for work with the Albuquerque Police Department, said, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Before being considered, they must put in 400 hours of field work.” Then the writer added, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Those 400 hours are roughly equivalent to three college degrees.”<\/p>\n
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Where did all these figures come from? The writer clearly meant clock hours as opposed to credit hours, and thereby drew an erroneous conclusion, by assuming that one reaches the 400 hours by multiplying by three the number of credits a student earns for a baccalaureate degree.
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Unfortunately, many observers of education are under that same misconception and thus we hear, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Teachers are overpaid,” \u00e2\u20ac\u0153teachers get three months off a year,” \u00e2\u20ac\u0153professors work only 12 hours a week.”
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 The recent firings and denials of tenure at Highlands have added to the verbal free-for-all regarding the merits of Highlands’ faculty. A recent letter to the editor gave 14 as the number of classroom hours a week for professors, calling it the lowest total in the state.
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Far from it. Quite simply, Highlands faculty teach among the highest loads, 12 credits, with major universities such as the University of New Mexico having nine credits as a common load. Major research universities often require six contact hours a week. The norm for junior and community colleges is five courses a week.
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 With 12-credit teaching loads, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s easy to understand why many people assume Highlands faculty finish up their few classes, jump into their MacJaguars and drive to their MacMansions in Santa Fe\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Las Campanas resort. Oh, would that this were the case! In academe, the 11th Commandment is: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Thou shalt not confuse hours with credits.” Generally, in order to earn three credits, a student needs to spend 45 hours in class. And if students devote an hour of study for every hour in class, the college investment is great.
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 The college professor here typically teaches four courses for a total of 12 contact hours a week, for 15 weeks. The amount of preparation and grading contributes substantially to their workload. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the usual picture for college professors.
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 For public school teachers — there from 8 to 4, five days a week — well, there just aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t enough hours, and that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s before factoring in sponsorships, various duties, games, proms and other activities.
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 But back to the hallowed Highlands halls:
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Some members of the lay public see only the obvious, the time spent in class. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not as if a university consists of thousands of interchangeable parts, in which Prof. A can perform the duties of Prof. B. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not as if professors learned their job in a day, never work outside of class, and never look back at the end of the day. Small colleges like Highlands have fewer classes to distribute among the small number of faculty, and as a result, many professors find themselves teaching four distinct preparations.
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 A while back, a provost (they used to be called deans), frustrated over not having been able to reach a professor at work by phone, issued an infamous 8-to-5 memo insisting that all faculty be available during normal business hours. On the surface, that seems fair — though punitive — as long as nothing else is expected.
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Yet, some of the fallout included this from a long-time professor: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Is this all you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re asking of us? If so, then none of us ever needs to read a book or grade a paper outside our shift in this factory.” Think about it: It seems like a good deal, never having to take the job home. But academe is not the same as a factory, in which the only basis for assessing a person\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s worth is how long he or she performs in front of students, or, more importantly, how many students are in the class. Highlands\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 braggadocio generally consists of the size of the graduating class or the increases in enrollment. But education is not really a quantifiable commodity, even if the New Mexico Legislature thinks otherwise.
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 The degree to which a good prof inspires students is tough to measure, especially when higher-ups want something you can put on a tote board.
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 My joy in joining the Highlands faculty in 1971, the beginning of a 28-year stint, came in observing countless others enthusiastically performing their duties — well beyond what their contracts specified. They sponsored clubs and organizations; they got escorted to their next class as they fielded whatever question curious students may have had; they got involved in projects well past \u00e2\u20ac\u0153factory hours,” tutored their students, guided them, advised them. They invested time during evenings and weekends, not because an administrator required it, but simply because they loved their jobs.
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Certainly there have been and will always be an element of faculty that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s aloof, inaccessible and less than competent. We always hear about them. But it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s rare that faculty at the higher end get due recognition. We have more than merely anecdotal evidence of how successful Highlands alumni have been. Obviously the professorial staff is doing something right.
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 I believe that in most colleges, where there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s mutual trust and respect, and where ethnicity or pigmentation work neither for nor against the instructor, faculty members go way beyond what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s in the contract.
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 And that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the kind of institution Highlands needs to continue to be.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0A journalism student at Highlands, writing about a pair of students who had applied for work with the Albuquerque Police Department, said, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Before being considered, they must put in 400 hours of field work.” Then the writer added, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Those 400 hours are roughly equivalent to three college degrees.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=79"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=79"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=79"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=79"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}