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Fourth, we need to become as good at providing career and emotional support as we are at criticizing performance (a very highly honed skill in most academics).

Fourth, we need to become as good at providing career and emotional support as we are at criticizing performance (a very highly honed skill in most academics). However, research and experience show that the ability to cope with failure varies a great deal across people and situations. Interesting how it works both ways between students and professors. At my University, professor evaluations were weighted somewhat according to students' comments and overall "learning experience," and did determine which professors achieved tenure (and when). Some brilliant people, however brilliant they may be, just don't belong in the teaching field when they can't genuinely motivate students to learn. However, individual academic institutions still need to have / make a place for them where they can maintain a standard of living without resorting to such drastic things.

mhartl 17y ago
professor evaluations weighted somewhat When universities say teaching is "weighted somewhat" in tenure decisions, it is code for "weighted barely at all". They say this to deflect the (usually valid) criticism that most professors are at best mediocre instructors. In practice, tenure decisions are based overwhelmingly on research. (Incredibly, this is true even at most "liberal arts" colleges.) In The Machinery of Freedom, David Friedman reprints an essay with a brilliant analysis of academia, including a withering critique of the university system and its misalignment of professor/student incentives. The author of the essay? Adam Smith. (Yes, that Adam Smith.) This is not a new problem.
- waldrews 17y ago
  Is that the same Adam Smith essay I keep bringing up at every opportunity? http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1118334 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1118334
  - mhartl 17y ago
    That's not it, but you motivated me to finally find a copy online. As with the passage you linked, the essay I have in mind is from The Wealth of Nations, in this case Book V.1.135–143. It starts here: http://www.econlib.org/library/Smith/smWN20.html#V.1.135 http://www.econlib.org/library/Smith/smWN20.html#V.1.135

mhartl 17y ago

professor evaluations weighted somewhat When universities say teaching is "weighted somewhat" in tenure decisions, it is code for "weighted barely at all". They say this to deflect the (usually valid) criticism that most professors are at best mediocre instructors. In practice, tenure decisions are based overwhelmingly on research. (Incredibly, this is true even at most "liberal arts" colleges.) In The Machinery of Freedom, David Friedman reprints an essay with a brilliant analysis of academia, including a withering critique of the university system and its misalignment of professor/student incentives. The author of the essay? Adam Smith. (Yes, that Adam Smith.) This is not a new problem.

waldrews 17y ago
Is that the same Adam Smith essay I keep bringing up at every opportunity? http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1118334 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1118334
- mhartl 17y ago
  That's not it, but you motivated me to finally find a copy online. As with the passage you linked, the essay I have in mind is from The Wealth of Nations, in this case Book V.1.135–143. It starts here: http://www.econlib.org/library/Smith/smWN20.html#V.1.135 http://www.econlib.org/library/Smith/smWN20.html#V.1.135