Archive for May, 2015

Philip Burke

May 31, 2015 at 6:26 pm · Filed under Arts, culture

love

I highly recommend the Philip Burke exhibition, “The Likeness of Being,” at Buffalo State College’s Burchfield Penney Art Center. Burke’s portraits are painted on large canvases – one doesn’t get the full effect, by any means, viewing them in the magazines where the images are published.

warhol

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Reading the textbook

May 27, 2015 at 5:14 am · Filed under education

Although I am sure there *are* professors who have estimated how long it will take their students to complete their assigned tasks – written assignments, presentations, homework activities, project research, and textbook reading – I doubt I know any who have done so. (My brilliant sister could be the exception that proves the rule; I am afraid to ask.)

I have written and/or revised literally dozens of course outlines and syllabi, and I have served on curriculum committees. Task completion time has never come up as a topic. The closest we have ever been to such a discussion has been when a faculty member has suggested that there seems to be a little much required of students in a particular class: “You want them to learn business reasoning, case study construction, advanced marketing techniques, and research strategy … in 14 weeks? How could a student be able to learn all that? Not only that, but how could a professor *teach* all of that?”

A colleague of mine asked her third-year communications students: How many of you have done the textbook readings so far this semester? Out of 35 students, no one raised their hand. No one had done more than crack open a textbook – a good one, too – that costs upwards of $150. After I heard about this, this Spring I asked my students a few questions:

  1. How many of you believe that your professors know how much you work? The answer: No student believes professors know how much they work, on particular assignments, or on school in general, or in life in general. (Almost all of my students have one or more jobs in addition to their school activities.)
  2. How many of you have done school-work *at your workplace*? Everybody who had a job raised their hand. Some raised *both* hands. Servers are writing reports in the kitchen; customer service reps are drafting spreadsheets in the stockroom.
  3. How many of you have been able to complete all of your assignments in one of your classes this year (including homework and reading)? No one raised their hand.
  4. What is the first thing you cut from your to-do lists in order to make it through your classes in one piece? “The readings.” This was unanimous.
  5. How do you expect to get by if you don’t read the textbook? Students hope that the lectures and the PowerPoint slides that accompany them will hit all the important points. (Note to world: They don’t, and can’t.)

I had been aware for a long time that students aren’t often keen to read their textbooks. That’s why my midterms and final exam are usually based completely on their textbooks, in an effort to force them to read. Some do, quickly. These tests are virtually always, though, their lowest grade of the semester, not just as an average but for almost every single student.

On my to-do list: Fix this.

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My school

May 23, 2015 at 7:52 am · Filed under education, Kwantlen

I am happy that, more often not, stories in the news about Kwantlen Polytechnic University are inspiring ones: Truly innovative programs are launched; students and alumni break ground in business and nonprofit ventures and advocate for enlightened public initiatives; professors write books and articles and lead national and international conferences and research projects. That said, one can’t avoid the seemingly dismal display of financial (and other) oddities practiced by a (very) few of the university’s higher-ups in the last year or two.

From yesterday’s Vancouver Sun:

The former board chairman of Kwantlen Polytechnic University has been asked to repay thousands of dollars in unacceptable expenses, expensive wine, lavish meals and political donations.

Gord Schoberg, whose term as board chairman ended in the fall of 2013, said Friday he’d reimburse any disputed expenses dating back to 2011. The expenses are expected to total less than $10,000. …

[Among other items] Kwantlen [had] reimbursed Schoberg for two bottles of Glenfiddich 18-year-old scotch totalling $180, which were purchased at an airport duty-free store.

Schoberg said he bought the scotch as part of a professional development conference for the board. “Rather than having alcohol around the table, I’d invite the board colleagues back to my room for a drink,” he said.

Advanced Education Minister Andrew Wilkinson blasted the expenses, saying it is totally inappropriate for a school to spend money earmarked for classrooms and research on alcohol and party donations.

“Unreasonable or inappropriate entertainment expenses are definitely not to be paid for out of public funds,” he said.

I believe almost everybody knows that the *most important* Kwantlen story has been consistent for a very long time: It is a great place to be a student (and a professor). The hallways in the buildings on our four campuses ring out with learning, mentorship, creation, teamwork, and profound delight. It’s a blessed environment that supports our community and makes our future something to look forward to.

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Peruse this!

May 21, 2015 at 4:23 pm · Filed under Uncategorized

I recently finished a pretty good book, The Lexicographer’s Dilemma: The Evolution of ‘Proper’ English from Shakespeare to South Park, by Rutgers Professor Jack Lynch. It provides a helpful history of the English language dictionary (other European languages had dictionaries long before English did) as well as a lucid assessment of the debates regarding usage, grammar, and vocabulary that started almost as soon as Samuel Johnson published his founding, epic work.

In these debates Lynch finds himself, more or less, on the “descriptivist” rather than the “prescriptivist” side; that is, he believes that dictionaries and grammars ought to show how people actually use words and grammar, not how well-bred scolds believe they *should* use such things. The word “ain’t” is just fine with Lynch, for instance, as is ending sentences with prepositions, as is confusing “comprise” with “compose,” as is pronouncing “ask” as “ax” (as Chaucer sometimes did).

By and large I am with Lynch, although certain usages will always irritate me: using the word “nauseous” to mean “nauseated” rather than “nauseating,” for instance, and using “peruse” to mean “skim” rather than “to study closely.” Oh well!

No matter what your stance is in this debate, there is no question that, to be regarded as a professional in the English-speaking word, one has to have a very solid handle on traditional, modern grammar and usage as it has been prescribed in your school and as it is expected in most workplaces. You have no choice.

I’ve been an editor my entire life, and I find I still always need the big Chicago Manual of Style on my desk at home to make sure I am following the straight and narrow. But, what if I’m not near my desk – on the SkyTrain, for instance, or walking through Stanley Park with my notebooks (and iPhone)? Well, there is lots of good help online. I give you:

Very helpful, fun grammar websites:

The Oatmeal: Learning Grammar with Comics

“Chomp Chomp”: Grammar Bytes – Grammar Instruction with Attitude!

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The Guide to Grammar and Writing isn’t *quite* as fun, but it is equally helpful.

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Enjoy!

Reposted from NoContest.CA

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Great time of year to learn

May 12, 2015 at 10:45 pm · Filed under Kwantlen

Today I started summer school: three 3-hour classes, spread over two campuses. That’s a lot of public transit! It’s wonderful being back in front of students again.

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“Is Buffalo Baltimore?” …

May 5, 2015 at 4:28 pm · Filed under Uncategorized

… Asks my esteemed colleague Mike Niman (in DailyPublic.com – which has a firewall, alas):

Here in Buffalo … we need to look proactively at racial disparities in policing, not only in the city but in all of the political constructs we call suburbs. Omnipresent cell phone video cameras mean that racist business-as-usual can no longer be ignored by authorities or hidden from the general public. Communities that have historically been denied justice are both fed up and empowered by recent events. I’ve always said this abuse has to stop—because it’s wrong. That, apparently, never was enough of an argument to move the ball. Now we’re reminded it’s also bad for business. Maybe that will move the sociopaths among our civic leaders to action. Property values won’t go up if adjacent neighborhoods are burning down.

Independent police review boards and monitors, and zero tolerance for civil rights violations, starting today, will go a long way toward preventing civic unrest by preventing sparks. But this is only a Band-Aid. The only real long-term fix that will cut the fuel to social unrest is to address the growing gap between the rich and the poor, and to address the societal structures that game the system and maintain racial inequity across generations.

For all the feel good stories about Buffalo rising, it’s not. We’re following in the path of gilded cities that are divided into playgrounds for the comparatively wealthy and bottomless hellholes for the inter-generationally poor. From Buffalo’s hipster enclaves, things might look great. Holistically, however, we’re living in a tinderbox of inequality.

Enjoy Mike Niman’s archive. Prior mentions of the brilliant advocate in basil.CA can be found here.

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