I had a realization today: the thing that matters the absolute most in the quality of a university education is the thing that university administrators have the least control over. That thing is what happens in classrooms every day—teaching.
There were basically two things I cared about when I was a student, what classes were offered and who taught them. The what mattered because I had things I was interested in and wanted to learn about. The who was important because it was obvious to me (and still is) that the largest factor in how enjoyable a course would be and how much I would learn would be the teacher. Did I think they were interesting? Did I respect their scholarship? Could they lecture and lead class discussions effectively?
There were many things I did not think about and probably didn’t even know existed. Curriculum maps. Program learning outcome alignment charts. Accreditation reviews and degree audits. Career placement and upward mobility of graduates. I knew then, like I do now, that a great class was about content I cared about and presented by someone who knew a ton about it and could lead us through it.
Now that I’m on the teaching side I see things basically the same way. I update my program curriculum map, and file my review paperwork, try to make thoughtful and encouraging comments on peer observations, and do my learning objective alignments and course context syllabus statements. I update my portfolio for my annual review with my chair. But none of it makes my classes better every day or makes me a better teacher. There is only one thing that can help me be a better teacher: time. I just need time to read, think, make materials, plan classes, and get into the absolute weeds of the class minutiae. This is of course hard to do when you have lots of administrivia to do proving to someone who has never sat in your classroom how good your class is.
Theoretically, every piece of busy work an administration puts upon faculty reduces the quality of a daily class meeting by some factor. Now, most teachers (at least that I know, I hear stories of the other kind) take great pride in being good at what they do and having great classes every time they meet, so they make up the slack with their own time.
Because here’s the thing: everything the administration does (save paying you to improve in your field and craft) makes it harder to make every class meeting great. And a great education is made up of four or so years of great daily classes, along with meaningful assignments that make you think and work. The ratio of good class days to bad class days is probably exactly how good or bad a student regards a class and their whole educational experience. I think it’s just that simple.
Curriculum is incredibly important, but the best curriculum cannot make up for a series of uninteresting, uninspiring class meetings delivered by overworked, underprepared faculty.
But of course, the administration’s first job is to justify its own existence. Those VP salaries have to be doing something. That something is generally thinking up more busy-work that reduces the daily quality of each class. Because try as they might, the only way to make the education at your institution better is to hire better faculty or help the faculty you have be the best they can be. So leave them alone and let them do their jobs, it’s really all they want to do.