PART TWO: "The only good is knowledge, and the only evil is ignorance."

Xtranormal: "One Professor's Fantasy"

"Yo, Dr. Smith! Do you have a second?" 
"Of course!"

Recently, I received a letter from the Provost of Kent State University (where I work), informing me that he has approved my application for Faculty Professional Improvement Leave (Fall 2011). What does that mean? Well, it is true that the old term that used to be used for this sort of thing was sabbatical, one meaning for which is "a period of rest" (Dictionary.com) -- which rather sounds like I just got approval to party for an entire semester, doesn't it?   Wroooong!  Still, many of my students seem to think that it is some sort of vacation or "free time" off for "good behavior" (a kind of get-out-of-jail card). 


I think I have a pretty good idea about the attitudes of my students. There are those who are "non-tradition" (older and/or working and/or parenting children) who are in college to gain better employment. There are those who are currently enrolled because they don't know what else to do and can't find a job. There are those who are in college because their parents said that they must go. There are the best of students and the worst of students. However, it is the worst of students (as well as the worst of teachers and professors) that usually stand out and are best remembered.

 "Yo, Dr. Smith! Do you have a second?" 
"Umm, right now?"

MOST of my students are NOT like this!  However, I can honestly say that, while I've never had a single student pull all of these manipulative stunts (particularly not all at once), I have had students pull variations of each. (I also have to say that I don't talk to students in this manner; I'm a professional.)  Such experiences of professor-student struggle are amusing, at best; however, the apparent increase in such incidents seems to be indicative of the nature of the current college level population, particularly those within the population (the majority) who are of the typical (18-25 years of) age.    


Who is to blame for such negative attitudes among students?  One "study says college isn't for everyone" -- pointing out that the increase and/or maintenance of current student populations at universities and colleges is more indicative of the need for more money (as federal and private support has drastically decreased over the last several decades) than of a true, internal drive of individuals desiring higher education.  Another study argues that, today, there is "limited learning in college," and another suggests that the problem is caused by "a lack of rigor" (NPR).   Still another points out that the most important "things" aren't taught in school, at any level ("The 10 Most Important Things They Didn't Teach You in School").  

Regardless of the cause, I believe it is this negative attitude, a fundamental lack of respect for scholarship in general, that feeds the notion that a sabbatical is equivalent to play time.

Another definition of sabbatical is more appropriate, and it perhaps why Kent State University has changed the title altogether to include the words "professional improvement." This secondary definition involves a break from teaching, but not a break from work; it involves training, research and other forms of self-improvement relevant to the job of instructing within the realm of higher education. Indeed, in the approval letter, I am instructed to generate a "Summary Report of the activities undertaken during the leave," as well as to provide "an up-to-date copy of [my] curriculum vita," which implies that "the short and long term outcomes of the leave that [I] am about to begin" will be closely evaluated. Now, some might say that this kind of leave is already granted annually, during the summer months; however, I am not paid for working in the summer--by contract, my salary is a 9 month salary. Still, I do work in the summers: in addition to teaching extra classes (to help build up my salary), I also use the time to do research (a leave without pay) in order to generate the scholastic conference presentations and publications expected of me.

 "Yo, Dr. Smith! Do you have a second?" 
"That depends...."
Let me tell you all the things I'm going to be doing between May 2011 and January 2012: 
WORK: NOT A PART OF THE SABBATICAL

• Teach four online classes (3 College Writing II, 1 Colloquium in Women's Studies).
• Edit a film, tentatively entitled Listening to You, Listening to Me, Listening to Everyone: A Community Theatre Deaf/Hearing Experience, which is about the 2009 production of Willy Conley's play For Every Man, Woman and Child--a modern morality play inspired by EVERYMAN (published in the anthology of his plays, Vignettes of the Deaf Character and Other Plays). 
• Finish a couple of articles I started writing last summer.

WORK: A PART OF THE SABBATICAL

• Increase my American Sign Language skills.  I will take the SCPI (Sign Communication Proficiency Interview) at the end of this semester's work. There are eleven levels of skills to this test: No Functional Skills, Novice, Novice Plus, Survival, Survival Plus, Intermediate, Intermediate Plus, Advanced, Advanced Plus, Superior, and Superior Plus. Informally, I have been told that my skills are currently in the Intermediate to Advanced range. My goal is to test for a score of Advanced Plus or Superior.
• Work on my book, tentatively titled, Signs of Motion: The Kinetics of Meaning in Deaf/ASL Poetics, Silent Film, and Medieval Texts.  I have a goal of completing three chapters and the introduction.

 "Yo, Dr. Smith! Do you have a second?"
"Right now, I don't even have a millisecond!" 

Now, it is true that I will be paid extra for teaching those summer courses--at a reduced rate from the regular year's pay.  It is also true that the other work (the film project and the articles) will eventually, hopefully, help me acquire promotion and/or merit pay.  (And, too, the film project is just downright fun.)  However, I can tell you right now that I will be very, very busy finishing all of the above: I've listed a lot of work to be done 8 months!  And the work for the sabbatical is expected of me, for my job, especially the book.

So, yes, I'm looking forward to resting from teaching (during 4 of those 8 months), but I'm also looking forward to working to accomplishing these projects. 

Any questions?
   
 "Yo, Dr. Smith! Do you have a second?"
"When I return, I will have all the time that you need."