Part of my job is academic advisor to all 200+ engineering students in our program. In non-pandemic times, it takes about a month of each semester to advise each student and get them registered for next semester’s classes. This semester, it took over two months to get through everyone because it had to be done via email or Zoom.
We are now learning that the universities may be going to a block schedule for the fall, meaning that ALL of that work just went down the toilet. Hours of stress, repetition, focus… all for nothing, plus a ton of extra work created by needing to redo the entire fall class schedule to fit for two universities’ differing plans.
I’d say I need a drink, but I’m trying to cut back, so a round of fizzy water on me instead. And I’m going to beat up on my punching bag for a while.
When my wife’s middle school went to block scheduling, she went from 45ish students to 200+.
She pretty much burned out on teaching after that.
We are now retired to another state, and she is starting to relax a little.
My takeaway is that education is top-heavy with administrators, who are continually starting new programs and new paradigms, roughly every two years. The process continues, because they never really measure what they have done, and they never, ever, record ‘lessons learned’, or really evaluate how well each program is working, before throwing it all out and starting the next.
If you can live happily in that envronment, and not take it home with you, … well, I don’t think you can, unless you go back to violent sports to distract yourself from the nonsense.
Mike, please tell you wife that I’m glad she’s out of the stress. I have mad respect for teachers but middle school teachers deserve a special place in heaven.
I can’t even skate right now - the parks are too full - but a walk in the rain did help. I plan to hike in the morning. I’m always amazed how much that helps.