This is what is wrong with the education system today...

[Professor]

So I was cruising the job postings on Sunday night looking for where I should apply to move on to the next phase of my career. I came across a very disturbing job posting that has left my head just spinning and my anger seething for about the last day or so.
I'll post a link and quote in some of the text with a highlight on the part that bothered me the most.

Assistant Professor Radio and Audio Production at Delaware State University

The Department of Mass Communication at Delaware State University, Dover, DE seeks candidates for an Assistant Professor in Radio/Audio Production beginning Fall 2008. Responsibilities include supervision of Radio/Audio concentration, teaching four classes per semester, curriculum development, assisting with radio production facilities.
* Required Qualifications: A Ph.D. in Communication or related field is required, with specialization in audio production. The successful candidate should have an established record of scholarly and professional activities, be active in the communication discipline and professional organizations, and demonstrate effective university teaching.
* Preferred Qualifications: ABD acceptable to interview. Must have Ph.D. by August 22, 2008. Coursework and expertise in audio production and experience in commercial radio or audio production helpful but not mandatory.

Position contingent on available funding
Send letter of application, CV and three reference letters to:

HELPFUL BUT NOT MANDATORY!!!

What the hell is that about?!?

I see so many things wrong with this that it has been killing me all day. But there are two immediate concepts I want to mention.
-1- I am a huge proponent of getting an education in audio. Every time the question comes up, you know where I will end up in the discussion. I don't ever discount experience because ultimately we don't stop learning when school is over, that's just when the grading gets harder because it's measured in dollars. I encourage people to not sit around their bedrooms reinventing the wheel and spending years trying to figure out stereo recording. Instead I say, 'go to school, and learn from the masters of the past so you can start there and continue to move the industry forward'.
But how can I say that in good conscience when I know it's possible you'll study with the 'experience not mandatory' guy, or the idiots who saw fit to hire him?
Teachers are supposed to be masters who share their knowledge with their apprentices. They should hope that all of their apprentices will someday exceed the master's skills, but they know that only a choice few will do so (after leaving the master), a few more may equal the master's skills, and most will probably leave with less than what the master knows. So if the master, the guy in charge of the whole radio & audio production department let's say, has never actually had experience doing the work in his field of study, then how much will he really know of the field. And if he doesn't know as much as he should, what will the vast majority of his students know? And when those students get Bachelor's, Master's, or even Doctoral degrees from that "master", they will go off into the world to become teachers themselves. Then with each successive generation of teacher and student, the skill level can be expected to get lower and lower, as long as the experience is "helpful but not mandatory".

Sorry I'm getting long-winded again, but there is still a part two...
-2- On the other hand, maybe it shows just how important getting that silly piece of paper is to this particular part of the world. Go to school, get the BA, MA, the PhD. You don't need to have ever picked up a mic, dialed in an EQ, or pushed around a fader. Who even said you have to be able to hear for that matter?
By the logic of the folks in Dover, DE, a fresh-outta-school, 26-year old who ran the BA, MA, PhD marathon in "Communication or a related field" (maybe marketing & advertising, consumer psychology, you know, whatever) would be more qualified to run their radio & audio production department then me, or Larry, or Joel, or Chris, or almost anyone else here, or Quincy Jones, or Steve Albini, or Al Schmidt, or Bob Clearmountain. (Guess I'm not sure about Dr. Dre)
So there's my new advice on going to school. Get in there, stay a while, and get every damn piece of paper you can. Recording, producing, radio, etc. are really hard fields to earn a living. But in a state university, you'll get a nice steady pay check, tenure, benefits, retirement, summers off, and you don't have to even need to have done the job before. I mean, I suppose that if you want to get your hands dirty, it could be helpful, but please don't feel that it is any way necessary in order for you to teach the next generation everything they'll ever need to know.


I'll step off the soap box now to go cry.

-Jeremy

[RodC]

Dang Professor, I didnt know you were out of work. I pray you are doing OK. I noticed you had been around a lot lately. I on the other hand have not had much time. I have crap stacked to the ceiling to do, and I have 3 CD projects Im just finishing up. (Of course they all took wayyy longer than usual) And of course I have the standard 19 projects going on at my real job. I'll quit bitching now...

I see job postings like that all the time. If you want to work there, apply anyway. Somtimes they do it to just scare ppl off, or they start out wanting to hire a PHD for 3.45 per hour, only to find out there aint many out there willing to work for beans. (And the ones that will you will prob spend more time trying to get them to quit even if you do get them to sign on )

Best of luck! I have had 0 time for TapOp lately, but I guess we all come and go...

[Mark Alan Miller]

Scary, telling, and a little disgusting.

I, myself (or plenty of people like me) are probably far more qualified for that position, and I don't have even a bachelor's degree. Phooey.

[I'm Painting Again]

if you put a period instead of an and between production and experience in the highlighted sentence it makes it perfectly fine..

the way it's written it makes it seem like you don't need that experience..that and the fact they list what you don't need under Preferred Qualificationsmake the posting a bit spotty as far far as the English language goes..

I think it's just a gramatical error that makes it read contrary to their meaning..

If you have a PhD in communications with specialization in audio production what are the chances you've never touched a fader? Chances are you've been around student radio for almost a decade, no?

not to say the education system in the United States doesn't have a wealth of problems..

[djimbe]

It's sad for sure, Professor, but not far off what I experienced getting my Mechanical Engineering degree. It was very plain that the individuals who taught my classes were highly educated, research oriented persons. Their goal was to make more people like themselves; i.e. more graduate students/doctoral candidates. Graduate students who would dedicate themselves to helping their "master" continue whatever the master's tiny filed of expertise was. I could count on the fingers of one hand the number of professors I studied with that had ANY experience doing practical engineering duties in a factory. Back in 1985 those folks had written off American manufacturing and training any new blood for such work. I'm still disgusted. Now I'm at a point where I've been tapped to start training young engineering candidates ON THE JOB, because the current state of engineering education is incapable of teaching students anything about how to actually BE an engineer.

You apply for that job if it interests you. And you make plain during the interviews that effective education starts with instructors that are fully informed on ALL aspects of audio production, and can show their students first hand what those aspects are. You're clearly qualified for that. Big Universities are just like big Corporations. The folks that run them are largely clueless about HOW the rubber meets the road, because the very few that had any experience with the rubber on the road are so far removed from it they can't cope. Some will recognize the worth of someone like you, especially if you present no challenge to their little ivory tower. If the tower dwellers can't recognize skills when they are put right in front of them, then they're not worth working for.

The other thing to keep in mind is that HR people wrote that job description and NONE of those folks have the slightest idea what an audio professional does. The foolishness I've heard from HR folks about the duties of a practical floor level engineer makes my head spin...

good luck, Jeremy! And don't let the uninformed get you down too bad...we all gotta deal with 'em (unfortunately)...

[Randy]

... and to chime in on what djembe was saying, at least in the corporate world, HR departments usually post requirements beyond what they will accept hoping to get more than they can pay for. Job consultants always say send a resume even if you don't fill all the "requirements." Generally anyone who does fill all the requirements either doesn't exist or is being treated quite nicely elsewhere.

It's a way for them to begin negotiations. "Well, we were looking to pay $X00,000 for someone who fits the requirements, but we're wiling to offer you $X0,000."

Good luck!

[@?,*???&?]

Jeremy,

Several thoughts here.

1. Full-time faculty at colleges these days hold either a Masters Degree or Phd. That is a fact. The college I teach at currently has 5 faculty in our department. The two full-time instructors hold Phd and earn 6 figure salaries. The rest of us are part-time. Colleges are about academics. If you get involved with one because of your experience level, that counts for much, but a college has to also show academic competence amongst its staff to be deemed an 'accredited' institution. If I were hired full-time at this college, I would be expected to begin work on a Masters Degree simultaneous with my teaching post regardless of whatever industry experience I had to that point.

2. This is a posted position nationally, which by law, the college has to do to show a fair hiring process. It could be, there is already some candidate within the department who will be hired.

3. Oftentimes, equivalent work experience can be accepted in lieu of a degree, but that is rare at a 4-year institution. At the community college level though, it happens all the time. 80% of the teaching staff at the college where I teach is part-time and most are working professionals in their repspective fields, but don't necessarily have the academic credentials to teach.

4. I have a real problem with educational institutions who have instructors that don't hold degrees. Credibility is really low in my mind if the instructor does not hold a degree. I can't imagine what the students think. However, an instructor that does not hold a degree, will not be a tenure-track professor.

[cgarges]

I'm just waiting for the day when several of the "what's wrong with the world today" issues collide and some smart person finally sues a college for giving them a totally jive education. There are many schools that offer degrees in areas that they are TOTALLY not prepared to teach and as such, they usually pass COMPLETELY unprepared students and hand them degrees claiming that they are qualified for jobs for which they are clearly NOT. This is blatantly criminal theft and I'm just astounded that more and more schools get away with it every year.

I'm with you 100%, Jeremy, both on the importance of "good" audio education and the totally blatant disrespect that so many fucking SCHOOLS are having for academics.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

[RodC]

I'm just waiting for the day when several of the "what's wrong with the world today" issues collide and some smart person finally sues a college for giving them a totally jive education. There are many schools that offer degrees in areas that they are TOTALLY not prepared to teach and as such, they usually pass COMPLETELY unprepared students and hand them degrees claiming that they are qualified for jobs for which they are clearly NOT. This is blatantly criminal theft and I'm just astounded that more and more schools get away with it every year.

They have been doing it for years. I graduated in '88 with a degree in what I had already been doing for 4+ years. (EE) I learned more on the job from the old guys than college ever taught me. Like a professor once told me, you go to college to prove that you can be trained, not to be trained.

Sad but true.

[cgarges]

If you have a halfway decent job, you're going to learn WAY more on the job than you would in school. That's the case with just about any profession except for medicine, where you REALLY need to know the mechanics before you can get a job. Even that's questionable, I'm sure.

I just think it's gotten worse and worse. Let's face it: music of any kind is a competitive profession. The fewer schools there are that offer music degrees, the more prepared a student is likely to be to face that kind of competition. The more schools offer music degrees, the more students there are who have to go through less work to obtain those degrees and the less value there is on having a degree anyway, both in perception and in practice.

Full Sail is a prime example. (Imagine that.) When Full Sail started, it was a small school with a demanding program. If you didn't attend classes and didn't pass tests, they wouldn't give you a degree. As the popularity of the school grew and the number of applicants increased, the school saw a need to grow, which costed money. So, they took on some expansion, which they needed money for. They accepted more applicants, sometimes by being more lenient with the entrance requirements, and took those students tuition fees, presumably to pay for the expansions. Already, you're looking at a less-selected batch of students. So, the number of students increased, which decreased the average grades, which in turn, pulled down the requirements for actually passing tests and obtaining degrees.

This process becomes exponential over time, especially when coupled by the constant media barrage of "how cool it is to be a rock star" and kids who have little interest in the process figure they can become rocks starts by recording rock stars. And they can do this without having to learn to play an instrument. So, enrollment applications at Full Sail start to go through the roof. This means more income from application fees and if they accept more students, more income from tuition fees. So, Full Sail starts cranking out students and before you know it, they've got ads in trade magazines to increase enrollment because, hey, this is becoming a lucrative business. "If the students don't learn anything, it's their fault--we're teaching them." Ads in trade magazines become ads in non-trade publications because hey, anyone can be rock star if they want.

Before you know it, people out in the professional world start having worse and worse experiences with Full Sail graduates because the number of unqualified people graduating are starting to outnumber the number of qualified people graduating. Before long, word gets around and having a degree from Full Sail makes you a liability. THAT, to me, is criminal.

A few years ago, a local college with a small enrollment started offering a degree in Music Industry. Interesting. They sent one of their students to intern at a studio where I was working at the time. The intern didn't show up half the time he was scheduled, didn't ever know any of the material on which he was supposed to be tested, and didn't appear to have taken anything away from his experience either at the studio or in school in general.

When it came time for the engineer who was helping him out to give him a grade on the internship, the engineer gave him an incomplete and the student's professor from the college called to complain about it! This "professor" wanted the engineer to give this completely unprepared motherfucker a passing grade so he could obtain a degree in the same work field. That situation sealed the deal for me on my outlook on audio education.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

[Professor]

As it happens, I'm not out of work... at least not that I'm aware of right now... but I'm still at home today. But thanks anyway.
I was looking because I think it's time for a change - primarily because of geography and economy, which is unfortunate because I like the work I do and the place I have to do it. And I'm starting my search in the same field where I'm currently working - recording in a collegiate setting.
I'm not particularly looking for a faculty gig, because I know they will hold degree exectations higher than anything else, and I don't have those degrees. If a different job doesn't come along, I may put myself back in school for a while. I can't see getting a master's in recording because it would really amount to setting back my professional development for a year or two, and wouldn't be useful anywhere in the world except academia. So it may end up being an MBA program, or I might try to go straight to an older-style doctoral program that awards a master's when coursework is done and PhD when the dissertation is done. If I don't work at another school or go back to school, then I'll probably move back into audio sales and make lots more money.
But that's just my personal plans that are kind of irrelevant to that particular job posting.

I actually wouldn't bother applying for a gig like that, because I really believe it says exactly what they meant to say. The wording is exactly identical on the school website. And this is really standard fare for the state university. As mentioned above, the schools need more PhD faculty to maintain accreditation and to appease the upper administration. And if that particular Comm. School offers a graduate program, then there is really no question. (Plus there are 6 or 7 other jobs that are more what I'd like to do.)
I explain to people (mostly faculty ) all the time that schools are businesses that are in business to sell a "certificate of qualification". The implication of the degree is that an individual cannot truly be considered "qualified" to work in a particular field unless they have that $80,000 rubber stamp of approval. And since that's their business, how can they convince the students to part with the money to pay for that product if the people delivering it are not "qualified" in the same way themselves.

And I wish the field were limited to audio, where at least the external market will still self-regulate and keep the useless degree-holders behind the counter at the local caf?. Yeah, it's sad to think that someone can spend 8-10 years doing the BA->MA->PhD run in say, acting or theater, and a typical university would hire that person to teach acting before hiring Tom Hanks, but even there, it's the arts, so at least nobody is endangered by the process. What frightens me is that this sort of thing happens all the time in the education departments, or as mentioned above, in the engineering department. The people teaching future teachers may have never been in front of a public school classroom. The engineer designing some safety system in your car may have been taught his skills out of a textbook by someone who has never been out of the textbook.
Sometimes the degradation of the education is visible quickly, like Chris mentioned with Full Sail. Of course, Full Sail continues to grow, because the students keep showing up, and if one or two become successful every couple of years, that covers the advertising needs for a while.
It's more frightening when the degradation is slower and more insidious. Who here thinks the public education system has improved year after year for the past two or three decades? Who thinks it will get better when the crop of underachievers who graduated from high school in 2004, graduate from college next month and start teaching high school in the fall?
When it's localized to a field or two, it's unfortunate.
When it's systemic, then it's frightening.

-Jeremy

[Winstontaneous]

This is an interesting post. As others have said, credentials are key in academia. I can see why this is the case, but I can't tell you how many people I've met who got advanced degrees:

"Because my parents will pay if I get an MA/PhD in xxx"
"Because I don't want to work for a living"
"Because I'll have to start paying my student loans if I don't stay in school"

Not because they're fascinated by their field, or want to share their passion with others by publishing/teaching.

Of course there are plenty who do follow their passions in academia. I feel I'm getting closer to doing so myself, but I'm glad that I took some time after undergrad to check out life in the real world.

[kayagum]

Don't get an MBA unless you want to run a decent sized company or (worse) work for a consulting firm and misinform people on what they should do, based on the same lack of real world experience.

You simply will not get a return on your tuition. And you think the music field is oversaturated....

[Randy]

Who here thinks the public education system has improved year after year for the past two or three decades? Who thinks it will get better when the crop of underachievers who graduated from high school in 2004, graduate from college next month and start teaching high school in the fall?
When it's localized to a field or two, it's unfortunate.
When it's systemic, then it's frightening.

-Jeremy

I hear you, cousin. I work in educational publishing, secondary and high school. The last decade has been an exercise in watching potential go down the drain. It's really sad. Clinton started it and Bush is trying to finish the job. Right now a three-tiered system is almost nailed down. It looks like we're going to have a system where rich schools have curricula with critical thinking and high level writing, middle class schools have a skill-and-drill curricula with a smattering of critical thinking (too much of that is dangerous in the wrong hands, don't you know), and the poor urban and rural schools have skill and drill only. No Child Left Behind, feh!

[chris harris]

I disagree that it started with Clinton. I think that it started at the very inception of public education with the ruling (wealthy) class's continued attempts to dismantle it. It's easier for the mega corporations to market to (and control) people who have less education. A properly and sufficiently educated populous would be pretty dangerous for the ultra wealthy scumbags who actually run this country. It's not just the politicians. And, it's not just one party of politicians. In reality is has much more to do with the people who pull the strings (and fill the coffers) of those politicians. Most of these people are too scuzzy and have too many skeletons in their closet to get elected by even a dumbed down citizenry. So, they buy up all of the power from politicians who care more about $$$ and staying in office than they really do about improving the country or the world.