Fwd: [Prof] Abelard to Apple

[Renato Assunção <assuncao@est.ufmg.br>]

De um colega:

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Prezados colegas,

Eu sempre tive que investir algum esforço para explicar meu pai
o que eu fazia além de dar 8 horas de aula por semana.
Meu pai já faleceu tem mais de cinco anos...
...mas se ele estivesse vivo
talvez fosse possível eu usar o livro:
------------
Abelard to Apple
Richard A. DeMillo
MIT Press 2011
---------------
Que dentre outras tarefas se incumbe de explicar o que é uma universidade
de pesquisa em contraste com um "college" (a tarefa principal é discutir
os caminhos do ensino superior face a novas realidades tal como
ITUNES University da Apple, o que dá significado ao título).

O autor do livro acima foi professor em Wisconsin, e tinha uma sala
no campus de Milwaukee com uma linda vista para o lago Michigan; ele
não revela se tinha dificuldades com seu pai... mas uma passagem mostra
alguma dificuldade com um senador estadual (transcrevi abaixo!).

Este livro é bastante interessante e discute muitas das virtudes e vícios
do atual modelo de extratos de ensino superior, tem sido uma leitura
proveitosa.

Saudações,
---Rodolfo


State officials would often use the university system as an example of the
misuse of public funds by an elite minority who were not being held properly
accountable by elected officials. Senator William Proxmire came out
of this tradition and became famous in the 1970s for his frequent
 “Golden Fleece Awards”
 that held federally funded scientific research up to public
ridicule, based largely on carefully selected project titles that when taken
out of context made little sense to the average voter.

During one of these periods, the university came under the high-profile
scrutiny of a group of state legislators who wanted to know how the thirty
or so campuses of the Wisconsin system were spending the state’s money.
I was selected to be interviewed by a senator from one of the small northern
towns on Lake Superior. He arrived at the appointed time, but things started
out badly. The grandeur of the view from my office seemed to bother him,
and he went out of his way to let me know it. He also let me know that
public school teachers spent the entire day in the classroom, and that he
expected the same from Wisconsin’s public universities. He went on the
attack: “How many hours do you teach?” I happened to be teaching two
four-credit courses that semester, so I said “eight hours.” “Eight hours!” he
repeated, as he slapped his knee, jumped to his feet, and began pumping
my hand. “You’re the first man I’ve met around here who puts in a full day’s
work!” I didn’t have the stomach to tell him that I meant eight hours per
week, not eight hours per day.


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