Monumental periods of transition are and have been in no short supply in education. The world has constantly been changing since the advent of facilitated learning, and thus this profession has constantly needed to transform in order to - somewhat paradoxically - preserve the same mission and to provide the same social service. This mission and social service, of course, is to allow and encourage individuals to grow personally and socially, to preserve culture and to continuously expand our knowledge of the world and of humanity.
In today's increasingly globalized economy infused with an unprecedented amount of technology, the way in which universities and colleges prepare students for graduation has been amended considerably. The challenge to produce graduates equipped with technical skills transferable across a wide range of professions and yet also with the ages-old sense of culture, self and world is undoubtedly a difficult one. Faculty members and administrators of academic institutions along with politicians will need to continue to collaborate in order to strike the right balance.
We all can get better at what we do, and shouldn't resist opportunities to do so.
In this spirit, the upcoming assessment of the College of Arts and Sciences by The Learning Alliance is something that needs to be taken seriously. The opportunity for faculty members and administrators to benefit from its findings, if the consulting firm indeed seeks to find ways for current educators to better practice their craft and better prepare students for lives after college, should not be one lightly considered.
It's understandable why many faculty members may feel an immediate inclination to doubt the process. Controversy often surrounds consulting firms which are frequently accused of agreeing with the party who is employing them - in this case, UT President Lloyd Jacobs and the Main Campus Provost Rosemary Haggett. The concern, then, is that TLA will render a harsh judgment onto faculty members, leaving open the possibility for a college reorganization - or a host of even worse options. Other faculty members are worried not that TLA will ruin the process, but rather that UT administrators will either ignore the wisdom in the report or will hijack the process and turn it into an indictment of an unruly faculty. None of these outcomes will be successful or acceptable.
With a sticker price of almost $80,000 (enough to fund a class of 20 students' fall semester tuitions) and the future of education at UT hanging in the balance, all faculty members and administrators really need to pull together and make this report work. This opportunity shouldn't be discarded by faculty members just to spite administrators, but neither should Jacobs or Haggett use it as a springboard for any hazardous or ill-considered agenda. The group should be allowed to do its job, hopefully drafting a responsible report after considering all perspectives in the roundtable discussions. That report, ultimately, should not be cavalierly discarded or used to justify any hasty actions not marked by extensive consideration by faculty as well as administrators.
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