Although the original research questions did not show any statistically significant relationships, except for students of color and a statistically significant positive impact for intent to enroll in the next level English course, qualitative inquiry revealed that students from the environmental sustainability themed courses did express interest in some type of campus engagement.
What?!! We're handing out Ph.D.s in education to students whose only contribution to the field is to pass out a survey asking whether anyone might be interested in taking a class on a certain topic? Not only that, but a survey that yielded no conclusions? "Students of color" express(ed) interest"! Did I get that right? I'm not sure I did in fact get it right, given the muddied grammar of the last sentence (and I do wish the folk over in the education department would at least teach their future teachers grammar--if the teachers can't write, how will they ever teach their students to do it?)
This is such an idiotic claim to original research it's insulting to those of us who have real Ph.D.s and who still want to believe that all that work stands for something. And of course I'm not even addressing the REALLY ridiculous idea: this brainless "sustainability" keyword that has overrun universities like wildfire. I have no idea what "sustainability" means when applied to universities, but I highly suspect it has something to do with the ability of pointless ideas to sustain themselves indefinitely.
4 comments:
Oh, man. I don't think I'm gonna let you read my dissertation when it's done. I'm afraid!
Aaron
Woot! Now, that is the acerbic Amtower I know and love! :)
I am with you, lady. It makes me feel like "If they can, then I can." but it also makes me wonder (again) why I'd want to.
I'd love to see you sometime...
Not to be too negative, or agreeable (as the case may be), but DUDE. I get paid more to run around the world and be a man of mystery, but I wanted to be a professor once. Apropos of that, I remember the words coming out of a wise and learned professor of mine who said that the most important thing English/Education profs did was teach writing. Then she made fun of me for falling in my class.
But I think she was reacting on some level to the nonsense that passes for academic analysis and the seemingly unaswerable question, to my mind at least, of who the hell cares about your research if it doesn't have any impact? And why are you wasting your time when you could be doing something else worthwhile? The same could be said of any number of academic articles, Sokal's hoax notwithstanding.
So anyways, I can't say that I'm all that surprised. But yea... dude.
Laurel, For what it's worth; the program is the new Cal State Ed.D. program. It's a different class of degree imho. The person I think you're referring to is well-liked around the hood.
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