I just accepted a part-time administrator position in exchange for a course release. Why do I suddenly feel dirty?
It is an administrator position that gets to work primarily with bright and hard-working students - so maybe it isn't really like taking the "Dark Mark" and becoming a Death Eater. But I still feel a little weird/guilty about it, especially when I had to decide which of my upper-level classes I would have to stop offering.
2 comments:
Dr. History: Maybe you feel guilty because you don't ~yet~ know whether you'll enjoy the pt admin position? Or maybe you took the position because you felt you could get out of some work? Or maybe you took the offer but knew someone else wanted it? Other than those three reasons, I can't think of a single reason to feel guilty about trading admin. work for teaching. There are enough faculty who feel that anything below teaching is beneath them. I mean to those folks, teaching is already beneath research in prestige! - TL
Administrative work typically isn't fun, but someone has to do it! I recently became Department Chair, which immediately plunged me into a world of academic politics that I had previously (and blissfully)ignored. Selfishly, I'd much rather just teach -- but I also know that doing this new job intelligently and aggressively can make a difference in terms of our students, faculty, and the overall health of the college.
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