The "Education" Thread

[Einherjar86]

That's some BS. I already see this second and third hand far more than I would like. And my professor wonders why I have less than zero interest in academia. Keeping people dangling while other opportunities disappear is a shitty process.

The silver lining of having no other current offers is that I have no opportunities in risk of disappearing. The inner shittiness, however, is that I have nothing to leverage...

Congrats! I'm already ready to be done now that I have a job pretty much on lockdown when I finish. Still have two years to grind out though.

Thanks. I could have defended this year but the market is so terrible that I secured a bit more time at BU just in case. But even if nothing pans out next year, I'm going to defend. I need to for my sanity's sake.

I wish I had a job on lockdown, but that's the risk of looking for work in humanities education. These days, the first round usually turns up nothing, so I was excited to hear back from AAAS. If that falls through, I'll make the rounds again and hopefully have better luck next winter.

My dept recently rolled out a rubric to try and standardize the process some but it's still quite subjective and you're kind of at the mercy of the luck of the draw of the committee.

That's interesting. For the English comps here (we call them "orals" b/c it's spoken, not written), you get to choose your committee; but you do still get the occasional faculty member who likes to fling a question at you out of left field. Then they make you wait outside the room afterward while they discuss whether you passed. It's agony.

My department also has issues with standardizing the process. It's unclear from the graduate handbook whether the exam is primarily supposed to test coverage (i.e. how many different texts you can talk about in your proposed field) or expertise (i.e. how much you can develop ideas about specific texts). Exams usually tend toward coverage, since you take it before you write your prospectus, but sometimes professors ask about your idea for a project (especially if one of them ends up being your first reader, which was the case in my exam).

The problem is that most people's reading lists end up being a weird hybrid a texts they're very familiar with and texts they're told to read if they want to teach a survey course on American modernist fiction (for example, I'm not an expert on John Dos Passos and haven't thought about him since my exam, but I had to read two of his novels for the damn test). And since it's a 2-2.5 hour exam, there's no way they can ask you about every book, so it becomes a game of trying to guess which ones they'll ask about and focus more intensely on those.

 

[Dak]

That's interesting. For the English comps here (we call them "orals" b/c it's spoken, not written), you get to choose your committee; but you do still get the occasional faculty member who likes to fling a question at you out of left field. Then they make you wait outside the room afterward while they discuss whether you passed. It's agony.

My department also has issues with standardizing the process. It's unclear from the graduate handbook whether the exam is primarily supposed to test coverage (i.e. how many different texts you can talk about in your proposed field) or expertise (i.e. how much you can develop ideas about specific texts). Exams usually tend toward coverage, since you take it before you write your prospectus, but sometimes professors ask about your idea for a project (especially if one of them ends up being your first reader, which was the case in my exam).

there's no way they can ask you about every book, so it becomes a game of trying to guess which ones they'll ask about and focus more intensely on those.

Yeah, my "comps" are "quals", and they involve writing about 2 distinctively different patient cases, and the purpose is to demonstrate that you can look at a case from all angles, get all the information you need, and then select an appropriate mode of therapy and apply it, with flexibility as things change across the course of therapy. Then your committee reviews the written versions, and if they pass, selects one for you to orally defend just a few days before you have to present on it. There's a page cap for the written portion, so I've been told this turns into not having enough space to give full depth to everything, so there will be holes for the committee to go after if they want in oral defense, so you have to be prepared to go above and beyond there. Almost no one fails so I'm not so concerned about that, but I don't want an asterisk either so I'm in the position of having to work on X while also starting dissertation work. Fortunately since I did live data collecting for my thesis, I'll probably be allowed to use an existing data set for my dissertation, which helps me collapse the timeline a bit and maybe defend before internship.

 

[Carpe Mortem]

Anyone VBA savvy? I've used it once or twice before in Outlook for a task or two and can't seem to get this code to work properly, it's just saving attachments as the attachment name. All the upvoters would indicate it should be working as stated and this is user error (and yes I did refer to the commented code not OP):

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/45082441/outlook-saving-attachment-with-subject-name

 

[Einherjar86]

Lot going on over the past week. Didn't get the postdoc I was hoping for, which is disappointing. On the plus side, it means I don't have to race to organize a dissertation defense in the next month, and I'm much further along in my revisions than I otherwise would have been. I can slow the pace a bit for now, but it looks like I'll be able to defend sometime in early spring 2019.

In other news, I'm TA-ing a course on climate change for the BU honors college in the fall, which I'm very excited about. I've never been a TA before; I've always led my own courses. I'm excited for this because it means I get to interact with more engaged students who are more committed to the material, and I'll likely have less grading than if I were in the writing program. I attended my first organizational meeting for the class yesterday. It's intense and complex, and going to be a lot of fun.

Also had my third paper accepted for publication in an academic journal. So a bit of good news to offset the disappointment.

 

[unknown]

Winding down my first semester as a tenure-track faculty member. It's been a wild semester. Luckily, I had some really good students this semester and had some fascinating discussions. The Summer Bridge program I coordinate will be starting up in about a month, even though we've been planning and developing it since November. This is my fourth year as co-coordinator for the program. It's always nice because it's like a mental refresher from teaching. It's still academic but from a different angle

 

[Einherjar86]

My piece on cyberpunk and neuropunk is up at Deletion (it's really a juxtaposition of Gibson's and Watts's work). Not a peer-reviewed article, as Deletion solicits essays for more of a popular audience, meaning the material tends to be a bit less academic. It's also nice and short.

The entire issue is good, and edited by a colleague at MSU who's done some pretty great work in the field of sci-fi scholarship.

http://www.deletionscifi.org/author/admin/ (my piece is titled "Neuromancer to Neuropunk: Science Fiction's Disenchantment of the Mind")

 

[rms]

not too long, gotta read it later

 

[zabu of nΩd]

Anyone VBA savvy? I've used it once or twice before in Outlook for a task or two and can't seem to get this code to work properly, it's just saving attachments as the attachment name. All the upvoters would indicate it should be working as stated and this is user error (and yes I did refer to the commented code not OP):

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/45082441/outlook-saving-attachment-with-subject-name

I haven't used Excel or VBA in years (Google Docs ftw), but I noticed some possibly missing stuff in that code. There's no declaration for File_Path, and there's neither a declaration nor an initialization for olFolderInbox and olByValue.

 

[zabu of nΩd]

My piece on cyberpunk and neuropunk is up at Deletion (it's really a juxtaposition of Gibson's and Watts's work). Not a peer-reviewed article, as Deletion solicits essays for more of a popular audience, meaning the material tends to be a bit less academic. It's also nice and short.

The entire issue is good, and edited by a colleague at MSU who's done some pretty great work in the field of sci-fi scholarship.

http://www.deletionscifi.org/author/admin/ (my piece is titled "Neuromancer to Neuropunk: Science Fiction's Disenchantment of the Mind")

Great read as always man. I'm still envious that you do this kind of thing for a living.

I left a comment on your article Forgive me if the thoughts are disorganized - it's late and my brain is fuzzy.

 

[Einherjar86]

Thanks! Fingers crossed that I can continue to make a living at it...

I posted a response to your comment, which I didn't find disorganized at all. It was quite perceptive and actually tapped into a key uncertainty that has driven literary criticism surrounding cyberpunk: whether cyberpunk really is as radical as it wants to be. I won't go into it all here, since I do in the comment, but basically some critics see cyberpunk as not being critical enough of the entrenched social structures that produce emergent technologies. Cyberpunk celebrates speculative technologies at the expense of representing those marginalized by them, or whose marginalization contributed to their production. It's a fascinating question, and one that I think is ambiguous in Gibson's work.

I think that Watts is a more radical writer than Gibson, in my opinion.

Anyway, hope there's some clarifying info somewhere in my reply...

 

[viewerfromnihil]

A little late on posting about it, but the fellowship in Berlin didn't work out. Kind of sucks, but at least now I've got a contact in Berlin for when I apply for grants for dissertation research, and, because I wasn't aware this fellowship existed because it's not really advertised, I have a fourth fellowship option to apply to when the time comes. In any case, I'll be staying in Germany for a second year, working and sitting in on lectures and seminars. A year here has gone a long way in getting my German to archival research competence. A second year should make the research and translation process go by a lot more quickly and make it a lot less painful. Oh, and I may have scored a second job as an English lecturer, contracted through the Volkshochschule (comparable to a community college, but much less than a CC), which would be sweet. I'd make double what my current stipend is and with the extra income I might be able to pay off an unsubsidized loan I took out for my first year of grad school.

The second year also gives me a chance to start taking my French seriously. All but two of the PhD programs I'll be applying to require competence in French, in addition to high proficiency in my research language. Which brings me to a little dilemma I'm facing. I'm still enrolled in my current graduate program, albeit on research leave, but I don't want to go back to Syracuse. The city is small, it's boring, and it snows too much. Also, they currently don't have a professor of German history, so I wouldn't have an adviser. Although I'm enrolled as a PhD student there, I had always intended to get Master's and enroll in a different PhD program. My plan had been to use it as a stepping stone program that would beef up my CV with a solid GPA from a university with a little clout (more than my undergrad at least) and give me time to improve my German so that I would be a contender for a top ten history grad program, which three of places I'll be applying to regularly rank, and so far everything has worked out even better than I could have imagined, winter time existential crisis aside.

So, I'm thinking of just not going back to SU and applying to the PhD programs I would have in 2020 in 2019 instead. The downside is I wouldn't be leaving SU with an MA. The bright side is I would have an extra year of my life, which is becoming ever more precious considering that I'm 26, will be staying in Germany for an extra year, and will likely spend 5-6 years completing a PhD after enrolling into a new program. Completing an MA would have some benefits, but the more I look at the costs and benefits, the less purpose I see in going back to SU. When I submit applications in the fall, my transcripts are going to look identical (21 credits, 4.0). Regardless of whether I have an MA or not, I will have to complete MA course work, as required by basically every history PhD program in the US (something which Europeans get really confused about). Best case scenario on this point is that I might be able to transfer 6 credits, but, if the grad program at my next institution allows it, I would be able to do so regardless of whether or not I completed the MA. My GRE scores are set to expire in 2020, so, while I'm not afraid of taking the exam again and could bump my score up a bit, that's another thing to throw in there. And on a more personal note, going back to SU puts me again in the frustrating circumstance of living some place for only a year, thus adding to the costs, efforts, and stresses of moving, not to mention the fact that it makes it very difficult to start a serious relationship with somebody. I did the one year dating thing my first year at SU before coming to Germany, and while an arm's length relationship that's on good terms is more fulfilling than loneliness, there's a lot of either unspoken understandings that create awkwardness or things that get said which pressures one to jump ship before feelings get hurt (if committing is out of the question). Then a girl I met my first day in Berlin last summer and I fell really hard for each other, but then we put the relationship to an end because neither of us saw permanent relocation to another continent as a viable option, and that really crushed me. So yeah, I'm not interested in giving myself a fourth year of walled-in emotions and limited interactions.

Any opinions from you guys? If my plans for June works out, I'll be meeting a professor I've worked with at SU at his second home in Vienna and plan to get his opinion on the topic before my visa expires.

 

[Einherjar86]

As you know, this shit is complicated, but I think your orientation toward the situation is good. With the caveat that I'm not an expert in PhD programs for history, I don't think the MA will boost your chances all that much. Most PhDs I know in the literature department here didn't have MAs when they applied; and as you already noted, the doctoral program will include a master's. I think the work you've done already speaks volumes, and studying abroad in the country you want to focus on, and doing archival work there, might very well carry you further in the admissions process than finishing the master's would.

One downside that I can think of is that a program might see the unfinished MA as a sign that you wouldn't finish the doctorate either. It's clear that's not the case from your comments above, but obviously the admissions committees won't have access to all this information. But then again, it might not matter next to the amount of work and research you've done.

I got a master's before entering the PhD program at BU, but none of my credits ended up transferring because it was a humanities MA, not specifically an English MA. That said, my master's was definitely crucial in preparing me for extended grad study. It doesn't look, to me, like you need that kind of preparation; it seems you know what to expect, and have had some graduate experience already.

 

[viewerfromnihil]

One downside that I can think of is that a program might see the unfinished MA as a sign that you wouldn't finish the doctorate either. It's clear that's not the case from your comments above, but obviously the admissions committees won't have access to all this information. But then again, it might not matter next to the amount of work and research you've done.

Yeah, this is my one big concern. It might be a good idea in my statement of purpose to mention that I'm skipping out on completing my MA because I'm ready to really buckle down on my doctoral topic. It sucks though because most programs only allow about 500 words, and that's is quite a small amount of space to fit a sexy, catchy intro paragraph, a brief academic biography, career plans, and the brief overview of the area I'd like to do my thesis on into. I've got a nice eye-catcher intro I used for my fellowship application -- didn't work on the German academics because they're Germans and don't do things like that -- that I think I'll recycle, but cutting that stuff down to fit is never fun.

I got a master's before entering the PhD program at BU, but none of my credits ended up transferring because it was a humanities MA, not specifically an English MA. That said, my master's was definitely crucial in preparing me for extended grad study. It doesn't look, to me, like you need that kind of preparation; it seems you know what to expect, and have had some graduate experience already.

Going through one year of grad school definitely made all the difference for me (and applying for Fulbright two years in a row), and I certainly don't think I'd be adequately prepared without having had the experience. Looking back at my graduate applications from a couple of years back compared to what is currently under preparation is like night and day. But then the extra time has also given me a chance to become familiar with my field, sort through some 50 different programs on the question of compatibility, and discuss experiences with people who have also been through the process.

Thanks for the reply!

 

[zabu of nΩd]

Thanks! Fingers crossed that I can continue to make a living at it...

I posted a response to your comment, which I didn't find disorganized at all. It was quite perceptive and actually tapped into a key uncertainty that has driven literary criticism surrounding cyberpunk: whether cyberpunk really is as radical as it wants to be. I won't go into it all here, since I do in the comment, but basically some critics see cyberpunk as not being critical enough of the entrenched social structures that produce emergent technologies. Cyberpunk celebrates speculative technologies at the expense of representing those marginalized by them, or whose marginalization contributed to their production. It's a fascinating question, and one that I think is ambiguous in Gibson's work.

I think that Watts is a more radical writer than Gibson, in my opinion.

Anyway, hope there's some clarifying info somewhere in my reply...

I read your reply. Didn't have much to throw back at you, but the points you made were surely fascinating.

I also watched the whole Watts lecture (and took notes). That is one hell of an ultimatum he lays down for the future of human progress. "Cross this line, motherfuckers -- I dare you!"

 

[Einherjar86]

Yeah, this is my one big concern. It might be a good idea in my statement of purpose to mention that I'm skipping out on completing my MA because I'm ready to really buckle down on my doctoral topic. It sucks though because most programs only allow about 500 words, and that's is quite a small amount of space to fit a sexy, catchy intro paragraph, a brief academic biography, career plans, and the brief overview of the area I'd like to do my thesis on into. I've got a nice eye-catcher intro I used for my fellowship application -- didn't work on the German academics because they're Germans and don't do things like that -- that I think I'll recycle, but cutting that stuff down to fit is never fun.

Yeah that's a tough one, because you (and the admissions boards) really want the statement of purpose to contain a breakdown of your intellectual interests, not a biographical summary. If you could contain the explanation to one sentence then it might be worth including; otherwise, I'd say let your research and archival work speak for itself.

Good luck!

I read your reply. Didn't have much to throw back at you, but the points you made were surely fascinating.

I also watched the whole Watts lecture (and took notes). That is one hell of an ultimatum he lays down for the future of human progress. "Cross this line, motherfuckers -- I dare you!"

Yeah, that's such a provocative lecture.

If you're looking for something to read this summer and don't mind your fiction fucking with your head, check out Watts's novel Blindsight. It's one of the best sci-fi novels of the past twenty years or so, I'd say.

 

[zabu of nΩd]

Yeah, that's such a provocative lecture.

If you're looking for something to read this summer and don't mind your fiction fucking with your head, check out Watts's novel Blindsight. It's one of the best sci-fi novels of the past twenty years or so, I'd say.

I'll add it to my to-read list. While I'm sure I'd enjoy it, I honestly don't know if I'm ready for too many mindfucks at this time. That lecture definitely fucked with my head, and I'm glad I watched it sober.

I don't know if I'm becoming more psychologically fragile over time, or just more aware of how fragile I've always been, but subject matter like this really can have an effect on my mental health. I'm happy to know it's available whenever I'm in need if an adventure, but the phase of life I'm in now is not an adventurous one, and getting through my daily/weekly routine requires staying in a certain comfort zone.

 

[Funerary_Doom]

Next year I’m up for tenure. I’m not one to boast about things, but as you all (or most of you know) I teach ELA (and Social Studies to my homeroom class) special education (self contained) to two groups of 7th graders. It’s not like I didn’t work fucking hard this year. I really did. My homeroom class, half of them are reading at a third grade level and below. I’ve spent hours tailoring lessons and breaking down shit, trying to teach phonemic awareness as well as the 7th grade ELA curriculum. The way I see it is if you don’t have an understanding of what sounds the letters make, you’re going to stay illiterate. Most kids who can’t read simply memorize words because they don’t know that letters have sounds. Anyways, pass or fail came back for the state tests and in my homeroom out of the 11 kids who took it (one was exempt because she tested intellectually disabled) 8 passed. The three that didn’t have over 40 absences and 80 latenesses. Like really bad attendance. I’m going to reach out to those three parents and give them this sheet I’ve found that breaks up the amount of absences to the amount of instructional time the child misses. I mean there’s only 178 days of school so 40 absences is crazy, adding the latenesses to it, and those kids are on 2nd grade reading levels.

The other class has 6 boys and 1 girl. The girl opted out, so 6 tested and 3/6 passed. That class had a lot of issues. It was an emotionally disturbed class. The two boys that gave me the most issues actually passed. The other three... one boy I didn’t get through in time for the test (of course in June he loves me now and will do work), the other boy can’t read and though he’s gotten better he also needs to mature. He was following the two bad boys too much. And lastly, the other boy.... I wish I could’ve helped him more. I guess I thought what I was doing was helping him but it wasn’t.

Anyways, I’m proud of the outcome. Could I have done better? Yeah. There’s always room for improvement. But last year they all failed the state tests for math and ela. So, I’m happy that 11 out of 17 who took it passed for ela. They didn’t do well for the math state test at all, but honestly I just worry about myself. I’m a constant learner so I’m planning on going back to school to get my masters in speech pathology. With a special education background, i think I’d like to eventually open up my own practice. Well see.

 

[Dak]

The way I see it is if you don’t have an understanding of what sounds the letters make, you’re going to stay illiterate.

100% agree, and yet phonics are a punchline to some.

 

[Dak]

This doesn't quite fit in this thread but fuck it: Received notice today that a short nonfiction piece I wrote for Z Publishing was accepted. Not super auspicious but the call for submissions was unexpected, and so was the acceptance.

 

[Einherjar86]

Congrats! Don't take this the wrong way, it's just a friendly heads-up: Z Publishing is known for anthologizing their authors' writings and then trying to charge you for purchasing the collection. They also try to recruit published writers for affiliate marketing. It's cool to have something officially in print, but it's also good to be aware of some of the money-making tactics certain publishing houses employ.

This is more of a concern for people trying to make it as writers, e.g. poets, short story authors, etc. But as you say, not super auspicious for your professional interests, so it's mostly just a cool thing.