Riddle me this Lords and Ladies of Academia. Why does an institution who claims to be a college, require that if an instructor is going to be absent, the instructor must find a substitute to teach her class instead of just cancelling it?
Because of my migraine last Thursday, I had to find someone to "teach' my law classes. Now there are only one or two people who are qualified to cover my courses and could pick up my lesson. But for the most part this is not the case. So, I have to give "busy work". How lame is that? The person covering the course does get paid to baby-sit.
I have voiced my opinion on many occasions but I am wondering if my colleagues don't like to question authority, which is usually the case, or they just don't care.
It is too bold of me as an adjunct to raise the issue with the new Dean?
About Me
- Seeking Solace
- I am a college professor who is fumbling through the chaos of academia, rheumatoid arthritis, working on my PhD and just being a 40 something woman. I used to be a lawyer, which made me a snarky little person. I have a wonderful Husband and a German Shepherd named Junior. They help keep me sane.
Paws to Consider
My Sister's Keeper
4 comments:
I have no advice about bringing the subject up to the Dean, but I do think that it's a ridiculous policy. Unbelieveable!
Sounds stupid to me - the busy work that is. As a student I'd probably leave if I knew the work and the attendance wasn't being recorded. It's just not respectful of the student's time or yours or the fact that we're all 'adults' when we reach college.
I don't have an opinion about bringing it up. I like to bring things up when I see an injustice but I'm not terribly popular for it.
It seems like a set number of sick hours would take care of the 'instructors bail out on classes all the time' problem. The idea that you could even have a substitute is silly, you aren't teaching 3rd grade --
We only do substitutes if the absence is going to be long-term -- it is nice to teach at a CC that treats us like professionals (most of the time...).
Yeah, in college the idea of substitutes is silly. We also only do that if someone is going to be out for a long time.
I don't know if this is part of the grade-school mentality that the administration has around your place, or if it may be in response to something. We all know of profs who are always missing classes, either for sickness or while out of town. Often administrators come up with something like this in response to hearing of one such case.
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