Thanks to The Enterprise for following the understandable pay dispute within the Patrick County school system. Sadly, such is not unique to us. I doubt there has ever been any intentional meanness involved anywhere, but the results across the country in education, even through the collegiate level, have been steadily devastating to the U.S. education system.
This systemic decay is not the product of any plan, but we see the results throughout the country.
Maybe ten years ago, I came across an article written by a recently retired university professor from long-respected institution. He sent out letters to every accredited college and university in the country and included a stamped, self-addressed envelope to return his short questionnaire.
He asked three questions:1. How many students did each college/university have in 1990 and how many in 2000?
- How many faculty in 1990 and in 2000?
- How many administrators in 1990 and in 2000?
The increases (and I may be off by a small amount) were a student increase of about 100%, faculty of about 50%, and administrators of over 500%. I am certain of the final figure.
This happened mostly and simply because administrators had secretaries, whom they saw and worked with every day. The secretaries’ salaries were pretty much fixed. To solve that understandable dilemma, the administrators promoted the secretaries into new, better-paying positions.
The new administrators needed secretaries (they DO make the world go around), and the first administrators needed to fill the vacant secretarial positions created by the advancement of the original secretaries…and so on and on and on.
Teachers and faculty are out of sight, teaching.
On the collegiate level, faculty used to run colleges (various deans, VPs, presidents). Professors rotated, mostly (Let Mikie do it) in and out of these administrative posts and would have rather been teaching and doing research.
So they began to hire “administrators” to perform such duties, and those administrators had to have secretaries…. Neither the administrators nor the secretaries have any real academic backgrounds (although such have since been manufactured).
So the academic structure that put Americans on the moon is gone. No intentional meanness was behind this. Neither was much thought. Current administrators are required to have “degrees” in the manufactured areas, which produce more required paperwork for them to do, ad infinitum.
Out-of-sight and over-burdened teachers and professors continue to try to teach while contending with absurd regulations promulgated by people who have no real contact with academics and probably never taught any academic subject. Not to worry, we’ll just put it all “online.” (Seen any Americans on the moon recently?)Some 90% of college and university presidents have never taught anything full-time. Such is like having a basketball coach who never played basketball.At rock bottom, the problems here are not of deliberate meanness, but the clearly reflect a lack of respect for solid academics, a country-wide attitude.
Tex Wood
Woolwine
