Good morning Chris,

Never a dull moment inside of that brain of yours! LOL! I love the way you think. You are correct, who is to say what the college student expectation is? However, I think we if listened and gave attention this weekend to the thousands of high school teachers walking out of Oklahoma schools because even after 10 years their pay is less than $40,000, would tell us a lot. That brings me to the fact that students pay for college (or at least their parents). We as a higher education institution are providing a service and unfortunately given the current circumstances of education I’d say almost a disservice. Starting salaries in my department are $100,000. This is a public institution and you can google every professor you have. Think about it, is that guy whose getting paid $235,000 a year REALLY putting in the amount of effort that he should to educate our undergraduate students? I’d say no and I rest my case. Think about it.

Thanks!

Cheers, Lehi

Good morning Bailey,

Absolutely! I don’t think anyone would argue that tenure track system needs to change, of course except the tenure track professors who keep the system in place to control and repeat the cycle with new tenure track professors. I like the idea of having some professors only teach and some only research. Also, just because a class is lecture based doesn’t mean you have to take the humanity piece out of it. I genuinely feel that if you aren’t in education to mentor, educate, and help others then you should choose a different field.

Thanks!

Cheers, Lehi

Good morning Sarah,

Yes, I know it will be a hard balance for me as well not to be transparent but at the end of the day I’m going by the rule of what you shouldn’t discuss at family dinner: sex, politics, or religion! LOL!

Thanks!

Cheers, Lehi

Good afternoon Sarah,

Yes, I’m absolutely obsessed with learning the names and stories behind every student. I know it sounds crazy but my job as a professor is to transform lives and I can’t do that if I’m not even knowledgeable about basic details. I can’t tell you how many students have come up to me here at VT after I’ve given a guest lecture and begged for me to teach the class, all because I connect with them on an emotional level and can talk about the “real” world with “real” examples and relate it to the theory at hand.

Thanks!

Cheers, Lehi

Good afternoon,

I’m absolutely in love with your “word” definition! Captivated by the words vulnerability, pluralism and democracy. What a different learning experience I would have had thus far in my Ph.D. program if this was the mission statement for my college. Great job!

Thanks!

Cheers, Lehi

Good afternoon Ali,

YES! Thank you for the positive feedback and I’m glad you found the post applicable to your own life. So, how exactly do we actively spread our awareness when the inmates are running the asylum and we are held hostage in the system? I believe there must be a balance because obviously we want our Ph.D. but at the same time we have to stand up for ourselves and fight against the system to do what is right. I don’t question that the double sided blade in this scenario is dangerous on both ends as we either lose ourselves to the system and become part of the cycle or we win and exit the system but without a degree. Unfortunately, no one seems to care about the attrition rate here at VT because if they took five minutes to look at it they’d see there is a massive problem across all departments. They chalk it up to “they weren’t Ph.D. material” however the reality might be more along the lines of “they were tired of being mismanaged by professors who were lost to magical thinking and elitism”.

Thanks!

Cheers, Lehi