Date sent: 17-APR-1998 09:11:43
I would like to respond to the suggestion that tenure is being whittled
away. From a small-college perspective, that is not the issue at all,
but market forces. Languages are viewed as a "skill" not as a field of
study. Like Math, you should be able to drill the basics into students'
heads in a couple of semesters, but only the most practical (read: countries
with the biggest markets, ie Spanish-speaking as far as the US is concerned)
should even be taught. The idea of language as discipline and intellectual
development (since it is "unpractical"-- i.e., you can't walk out of school
and into a job--) is long gone. Italian is not seen as practical, but
rather as a sentimental attachment on the part of descendants of
immigrants. All I get to teach is language, at the required level, and,
if the classes don't fill, they are combined and I teach beginning or
intermediate French.
There are "market forces" at work here, as well as market analyses on
the part of administration (I read a review of a book in *Business Week*
about just this lack of respect for intellectual endeavor, which said
that since intellectual output is not measurable it is not respectable. The
metaphor was "metal vs. mental" but I don't remember the book title).
One must add, lamentably, the lack of retirement age. I too, am over 40,
and while appreciate the ability to be able to teach as long as I
wish, I realize that this impacts the openings for younger/newer scholars.
I'll forward a job posting of the type I've been seeing ever more of with
my next message.
LZM
Leslie Z. Morgan Tel: 410-617-2926 (voice mail too)
Dept. of Modern Langs. and Lits. E-mail: [log in to unmask]
Loyola College in MD
4501 N. Charles St. FAX: 410-617-2859
Baltimore, MD 21210-2699
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