Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Delayed repairs in Higher Education Institutions

It seems a popular tradition that crosses all countries and cultures of higher education; the classroom that is need of repair.
As a teacher, it can be embarrassing, even though you do not hold the purse strings, and as a student, you wonder why there is a brand new BMW outside for one of the higher ups but the lights do not work properly.
The article I am going to share speaks for itself; I am not judging any school, and I certainly not recommending teachers do this. However, you do have to admit this was clever:
“Classrooms of Shame”
“Leaky ceilings, dim lighting, roaches, mold. Those images don't evoke the ideals of higher education, but for the growing number of professors posting pictures of their rooms and offices to the social media feed called "Classrooms of Shame," they're an everyday reality”.
“Karen Kelsky, who runs the academic career counseling website "The Professor Is In," and who is a former tenured professor of anthropology at the University of Oregon and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, started the Tumblr feed. She did so several months ago, "after hearing so many anecdotal stories from my clients and readers of the deplorable conditions of adjunct teaching facilities – offices with no phones, leaking roofs, mold, bugs, etc.," she said via email. The idea was to give academics a place to "vent and share, and know they are not alone."”
“And share and vent they did. “Classrooms of Shame” is full of pictures of leaky ceilings, some with makeshift fixes, such as a sheet of plastic funneling water into a trash can at what’s labeled as a “liberal arts college.” (Most posters don’t label their institutions by name, for fear of damaging their careers or – among adjuncts in particular – losing their jobs.) There are photos of classrooms with dead insects, leaking windows stuffed with rags to keep out the rain, and holes in the walls. Other professors have posted photos of their “office space” – in one instance, a group of three chairs at the end of a hallway”.
 
I will add a small personal observation and say that the public schools seem to be the worst offenders.
Dr Flavius A B Akerele III
The ETeam

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