Brutal Teaching

I went to a job interview today in Oakland, for what I thought was a community college in Oakland. But it turned out to be a single man running what appears to be a company of one, finding teachers for troubled people in Oakland and arranging to have classes taught at various community centers in Oakland and San Pablo. He used to teach where I do now, and I found out about the job from my former department head.

He asked me to give a 20-minute presentation on a "topic of my choice", so I just brought in my usual lecture materials and was ready to present my usual lecture. I thought I would be addressing some kind of faculty hiring committee at a college, but instead I was put into a conference room with just this one guy, no computer, no blackboard, and I knew he had just recently taught the same classes I was teaching. The idea of lecturing to him that way made no sense, and I made some attempt to show him my style, but he interrupted me and said he might as well just visit my class to see that. So he will supposedly sit in on my class next week, which makes a lot more sense to me. But I could tell that he expected something from me in that presentation and lost all interest in me as a result of me not delivering it.

I was confused and upset after that, and grateful that I don't really need that job, since I think I won't get it. But after sifting through the things he said to me, I think I have an idea what is going on.

I think this guy has gotten a grant from the City of Oakland to teach inner-city "at-risk" people (homeless, addicts, etc.) and that grant is probably a 2-year or 3-year grant. He has a system which he described to me in which there are two teachers doing each class: a technical one (who could be me) teaching the computer skills, and a "life skills" teacher who teaches the students to wear appropriate clothes, show up sober and on time, and other such skills. And he expects us both to work together closely to nursemaid and shepherd the students through the class. His purpose is to turn people who cannot pass community college classes into information technology professionals. I must therefore cover just as much material in the same time as I do at my present college, since the courses get real community college credit, and also do some sort of social work to drag the students through. He told me that he is unhappy with the current success of the system, because too many students are dropping out. He attributes this to the fact that he hired community college teachers without adequate screening, and says just being a community college teacher is not good enough to make you qualified for his task.

From what he has told me, it sounds as if I am not the right man for his task either. Half my students drop out each semester, and I have come to consider that normal. If his students are really much worse than mine, and I have to cover the same material at the same rate, I expect even more of them to drop out. The material is not hard, but students have to actually buy the book, study it, and do the homework. I do not know any way to cover this material at this pace without students that will work out of class.

So he will attend my class, and if he likes what he sees, which I do not expect him to, he will invite me to a meeting where six teachers give presentations to representatives of various organizations that need teachers. Those organizations then pick the teachers they like best. So I will continue with this process, because the actual job may not be as bad as he makes it sound, and the experience will educate me.

It was not pleasant to be measured and found wanting, but from what I gather the man wants a miracle-worker and he is facing unemployment himself if he fails to produce miracles soon. He could be regarded as an heroic figure -- he had a normal job like mine teaching in a community college, but left it to pursue his dream of helping disadvantaged people with an ambitious plan of social work. If I get the job, I may be able to help some people, but the program as a whole sounds like something that will soon be reviewed, declared a failure, and canceled.

I had hoped to find an established organization with a job I could learn to do and do well, but I think what I have seen is a sinking ship with a man who was hoping that I had a good idea how to save it. There are a lot of pie-in-the-sky childish utopian schemes out here, it's California after all. My plan is to stay calm and not demand anything from anyone, but to see if there is any real good I can accomplish within any of the structures around me. This interview was more difficult for me than I had expected, but I suppose that is also part of the learning process.

Picture from compaq.com

9:07:44 PM     comment []    .