Bad Advice from Internet Gurus
I'm a communications guy, so I try to keep my mouse roaming the web for innovative thinkers with important things to say. Guess what? There ain't much. Oh, others believe there's a great deal out there. I just don't believe it, because I haven't seen it.
People make much ado about guys like Seth Godin, but I can't say I care much for what he's written. In all honesty, I can't see what all the fuss is about. A case in point: he recommended a young man's blog that sports some awful advice. In particular, a post he wrote, "How to Retire the Day After Tomorrow," in which he applauds a University of Washington professor for getting out of teaching undergraduates:
This guy is just another example of the neo-gold rush of the internet age where immediate accessibility to a vast audience provides the alluring freedom of saying anything you want to anybody. And if you play to their greed and gullibility, you can become their guru and then advise them to stop giving an honest day's work for an honest day's pay.
This professor he mentions should be fired on the spot. Teachers teach. That's what they're supposed to do. It matters little the size of the class, or the grade level. If you understand the Biblical concept of calling, you'll act in terms of faithfulness, not look for the least amount of work for the most amount of pay.
People make much ado about guys like Seth Godin, but I can't say I care much for what he's written. In all honesty, I can't see what all the fuss is about. A case in point: he recommended a young man's blog that sports some awful advice. In particular, a post he wrote, "How to Retire the Day After Tomorrow," in which he applauds a University of Washington professor for getting out of teaching undergraduates:
Most of us will opt for partial retirement, and that’s because most of us are not working at jobs we completely hate.We just don’t like certain parts of them, and those tasks are what we need to retire from.This is supposed to helpful advice? Getting out of work? Adding insult to injury, this portion of his post was directly across from a link to another article of his entitled "The Decision to be Remarkable!"
One of my professors told me last year that he only teaches one class a year, and never to undergraduates. (The undergraduate classes at the University of Washington are pretty large, with an average of 300 students in each one, while a graduate class has less than 30 students.) He said that he had a disagreement with the student union a few years back and decided to stop teaching.
“You just told them you wouldn’t do it anymore?” I asked him.
“Pretty much,” he said. Apparently there was some negotiation later on, which always takes a while in academia, but he never did teach another undergrad class.
The pay scale for full professors at the top ten public universities in the U.S. brings up an average salary of $108,921 at the University of Washington. How would you like to teach one class a year for $108,921?
This guy is just another example of the neo-gold rush of the internet age where immediate accessibility to a vast audience provides the alluring freedom of saying anything you want to anybody. And if you play to their greed and gullibility, you can become their guru and then advise them to stop giving an honest day's work for an honest day's pay.
This professor he mentions should be fired on the spot. Teachers teach. That's what they're supposed to do. It matters little the size of the class, or the grade level. If you understand the Biblical concept of calling, you'll act in terms of faithfulness, not look for the least amount of work for the most amount of pay.
