Zooze the Horse roams around the pasture near Lamar State College. Zooze thinks about problems in academia. Zhe wants proffies to submit posts (blog posts, not fence posts).
Sunday, January 15, 2023
Big Hungry 2023
What's your chief concern about the state of higher education this year?
Sorry I hadn't replied sooner, but the first week of classes has kept me far too busy running around after students with a pooper scooper. COVID 19 has left some very bad symptoms among students: they all seem MUCH less smarter than they used to be, if that's believable.
In particular, they are even more immature and needy, needy, needy, much more like even younger children than they used to be. They seemingly are no longer able to do what used to be the simplest things, such as scheduling research meetings for the semester. Today I had to grapple with, "I think I'll be available Tuesday," and not, "I'll be available Tuesdays at 2:00-2:50 p.m. and at 3:00-3:50 p.m.," in a manner very little reflection might reveal could be useful to anyone other than good, old Spontaneous Me. And I’m expecting these people to find out something new and interesting about black holes?
I am by no means the first to observe that they appear to have forgotten how to study: Maitland Jones Jr. at NYU beat me to it. The students seem to think that coming to class and sitting there inert and motionlessly, without taking notes or apparently without even brainwaves moving around in their skulls, will be sufficient to get an A in my course. It won’t: I teach physics, for which there can and will never be any substitute for doing the fucking homework problems---yourself, and honestly.
And as far as the general-ed astronomy course for non-majors go, I am positively looking forward to ChatGPT-written term papers. I am sure the quality of the research will make the papers worth reading, for a change, and with astonishing improvements in basic literacy.
I am now getting old, for a spaceman, as happened to the space poet Rhysling shortly before he finished “The Green Hills of Earth.” (Look it up: it's a good one.) I am thinking of retiring in the next 4-5 years. I am therefore thinking about how to ask my administration for $30k to refurbish both the Campus Observatory and the Remote Observatory.
The Campus Observatory needs a new telescope. I have taught over 100 students to observe with it. Remember the horrible things you did to your parents’ car when you were a teenager, learning to drive? Imagine that multiplied by over 100. That poor telescope needs a well-deserved retirement, to be replaced by a younger, more nimble, more modern model.
The Remote Observatory is at a good, dark site in the mountains and operated by my students and me primarily over the internet, although I do take them up there every now and then to do maintenance and show them it’s not all a hoax. The optics haven’t been cleaned since 2014, and it needs a new computer, with the one it has still running Windows 7. To do this, I will need to get someone from the manufacturer to travel here and help me with this. That won’t be cheap.
This all assumes that when I retire, I’ll be replaced by another astronomer who will make use of these things. I hate the idea of leaving two messes for someone else to clean up. But then, if no one is hired to replace me, knowing this in advance might save me an enormous amount of work. It bites.
Unlike the lament from Len from Las Cruces on His Worst Fear from RYS, though, it hasn't been all for nothing. Every last one of my M.S. students has gone on to a prosperous, middle-class incomes, doing jobs that make use of what I taught them, often doing things genuinely useful to society, such as renewable energy, IT, or analyzing spacecraft images of ocean waves. Her starting salary was $104k, although since she'll be living in San Diego, that may get a studio apartment with a water heater in it.
And of course, most of them have gone into K-14 science teaching. There's a desperate need for good ones anywhere, always, especially in the Fresno area---although increasingly, knowing the job conditions and pay they will be getting, it becomes difficult for me not to wince when saying that. Still, I did get to make a living as an astronomer and space visionary for 22 years, and that’s even cooler than being a cowboy. (Sorry, Bubba). It wasn’t all for nothing, and I hope never completely to retire. I still have enough scientific ideas to keep me going for several lifetimes. If I still manage to win a Nobel Prize, even at this late date, it’ll make my personality even worse than it already is.
I've also noticed students being very disengaged. At one point, I told the students specifically to write something (very short) down. 20+ years in the field and this was a first for me. And the last. Maybe 1/3 of the students did.
And oh my, do they ever want a script for exams. I teach in a quant discipline so they want what amounts to practice exams and then have a real exam just like the practice exam. They want to recite a script, not actually understand anything.
Does anyone else notice the evaluation comments are getting snarkier? The social media generation seems to lack a filter. And if they do poorly, it's all our fault. Even if they didn't go to class, didn't take notes, didn't crack a book, didn't watch a recording of class...
Sorry I hadn't replied sooner, but the first week of classes has kept me far too busy running around after students with a pooper scooper. COVID 19 has left some very bad symptoms among students: they all seem MUCH less smarter than they used to be, if that's believable.
ReplyDeleteIn particular, they are even more immature and needy, needy, needy, much more like even younger children than they used to be. They seemingly are no longer able to do what used to be the simplest things, such as scheduling research meetings for the semester. Today I had to grapple with, "I think I'll be available Tuesday," and not, "I'll be available Tuesdays at 2:00-2:50 p.m. and at 3:00-3:50 p.m.," in a manner very little reflection might reveal could be useful to anyone other than good, old Spontaneous Me. And I’m expecting these people to find out something new and interesting about black holes?
I am by no means the first to observe that they appear to have forgotten how to study: Maitland Jones Jr. at NYU beat me to it. The students seem to think that coming to class and sitting there inert and motionlessly, without taking notes or apparently without even brainwaves moving around in their skulls, will be sufficient to get an A in my course. It won’t: I teach physics, for which there can and will never be any substitute for doing the fucking homework problems---yourself, and honestly.
And as far as the general-ed astronomy course for non-majors go, I am positively looking forward to ChatGPT-written term papers. I am sure the quality of the research will make the papers worth reading, for a change, and with astonishing improvements in basic literacy.
I am now getting old, for a spaceman, as happened to the space poet Rhysling shortly before he finished “The Green Hills of Earth.” (Look it up: it's a good one.) I am thinking of retiring in the next 4-5 years. I am therefore thinking about how to ask my administration for $30k to refurbish both the Campus Observatory and the Remote Observatory.
The Campus Observatory needs a new telescope. I have taught over 100 students to observe with it. Remember the horrible things you did to your parents’ car when you were a teenager, learning to drive? Imagine that multiplied by over 100. That poor telescope needs a well-deserved retirement, to be replaced by a younger, more nimble, more modern model.
ReplyDeleteThe Remote Observatory is at a good, dark site in the mountains and operated by my students and me primarily over the internet, although I do take them up there every now and then to do maintenance and show them it’s not all a hoax. The optics haven’t been cleaned since 2014, and it needs a new computer, with the one it has still running Windows 7. To do this, I will need to get someone from the manufacturer to travel here and help me with this. That won’t be cheap.
This all assumes that when I retire, I’ll be replaced by another astronomer who will make use of these things. I hate the idea of leaving two messes for someone else to clean up. But then, if no one is hired to replace me, knowing this in advance might save me an enormous amount of work. It bites.
Unlike the lament from Len from Las Cruces on His Worst Fear from RYS, though, it hasn't been all for nothing. Every last one of my M.S. students has gone on to a prosperous, middle-class incomes, doing jobs that make use of what I taught them, often doing things genuinely useful to society, such as renewable energy, IT, or analyzing spacecraft images of ocean waves. Her starting salary was $104k, although since she'll be living in San Diego, that may get a studio apartment with a water heater in it.
And of course, most of them have gone into K-14 science teaching. There's a desperate need for good ones anywhere, always, especially in the Fresno area---although increasingly, knowing the job conditions and pay they will be getting, it becomes difficult for me not to wince when saying that. Still, I did get to make a living as an astronomer and space visionary for 22 years, and that’s even cooler than being a cowboy. (Sorry, Bubba). It wasn’t all for nothing, and I hope never completely to retire. I still have enough scientific ideas to keep me going for several lifetimes. If I still manage to win a Nobel Prize, even at this late date, it’ll make my personality even worse than it already is.
I've also noticed students being very disengaged. At one point, I told the students specifically to write something (very short) down. 20+ years in the field and this was a first for me. And the last. Maybe 1/3 of the students did.
ReplyDeleteAnd oh my, do they ever want a script for exams. I teach in a quant discipline so they want what amounts to practice exams and then have a real exam just like the practice exam. They want to recite a script, not actually understand anything.
Does anyone else notice the evaluation comments are getting snarkier? The social media generation seems to lack a filter. And if they do poorly, it's all our fault. Even if they didn't go to class, didn't take notes, didn't crack a book, didn't watch a recording of class...