Here I am, in a department full of people with advanced degrees, most of whom teach writing and are supposedly good writers themselves.
So why is it, sometimes we're shockingly poor at some basic communication skills.
Do psych departments end up full of people who can't deal well with other people?
Do kinesiology departments end up with people who can't bring themselves to exercise?
Do health departments end up with meetings full of smokers?
Do graphics departments end up with boring grey walls?
(Thank goodness for the admin person who figured things out and kept me from being a total mess!)
All of my friends from Med School were extremely heavy smokers and drinkers.
ReplyDeleteAnd the ugliest building on campus housed the Dept. of Architecture.
I think the answer to all of those is "yes."
ReplyDeleteEvery art department, photography studio, and graphics firm I've been in all had pale grey walls (my husband and both parents are artists of different kinds, so that's a lot of art space over the years). It's called "gallery grey" and shows off the art.
Yesterday, a colleague was telling my about an email she had just received from the person who teaches our grammar classes; full of basic grammar and spelling mistakes.
It there some sort of Internet Law that if you make a comment about grammar you are guaranteed to have a grammar/spelling/punctuation mistake in that comment? Sheesh, I made two.
ReplyDeleteYes. Haven't you ever noticed that professors in Education departments tend to be the worst teachers?
ReplyDeleteDe-lurking (hi!) to say, OMG yes! Political scientists are AWFUL at politics, both amongst themselves and vis a vis other parts of college organizational power structures.
ReplyDeleteI can say yes to the psychology question (seems to be a common department to be put into receivership with an outside chair), and note that music departments are notoriously inharmonious. And economists surprisingly little help in budget crises.
ReplyDeleteThat'll be a "yes" from us too.
ReplyDeleteThere's truth to the saying, "Those who can't do, teach."
just adding the chorus of yeses for people in my field as well.
ReplyDelete