Re: Tenure at Minnesota (fwd)

Mark Gellis (mgellis@SILVER.SDSMT.EDU)
Tue, 24 Sep 1996 22:16:58 -0600


A new gig? Like what? What we have to offer--research, critical
thinking, and communication skills, and the ability to teach others what
we know--is certainly valuable, but who is buying? Corporations certainly
hire consultants, but can you make a living doing this kind of work...is
there enough of a market to make a living at it? Do corporations hire
their own trainers? I keep hearing how much they spend on re-training
workers who do not know how to write, but while I have seen plenty of ads
for technical writers in software firms, I have never seen a job
advertisement that reads "Wanted: Communications Instructor. Fortune
1,000 corporation seeks a full-time writer and instructor to fix the
incredibly bad writing our executives are turning out and to show them how
to not sound like such pinheads anymore. Pay and benefits will blow those
offered by the American university system completely out of the water." :)
I suspect those jobs are out there, but I have never seen any
advertisements.

I suppose folks could get started now, by doing some consulting work
freelance (some of us do this already, I think) and then, if things really
do get worse, your resume has the kind of relevant job experience that
will get you hired into corporate America.

On Tue, 24 Sep 1996, Eric Crump wrote:

> On Tue, 24 Sep 1996, Marcy Bauman wrote:
> -->We all ought to be thinking about what else we could do that might be
> -->fun. (And I mean that to sound sort of flip.)
>
> Flippiness aside, Marcy's right on the money yere (and I use 'money'
> intentionally :)
>
> We ought to be thinking about alternatives to institutional education.
> It's not really a going concern, unless you count 'going to pot.'
>
> I keep thinking that the moves to wipe out tenure, to downsize the
> universities, to increase tuition while undercutting faculty, are all
> opportunities we might seize. What looks evil may actually be liberating!
> Thing is, we gotta quit thinking colleges and universities and public
> school systems are the only places where teachers can ply their trade.
>
> Come to think of it, they may be the *worst* places for teachers to ply
> their trade.
>
> Anybody wanna start a new gig?
>
> --Eric Crump
>


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