Stereotypes in Action!
So elections for chair of faculty senate are coming up soon, and our office has agreed to publish the "leadership statements"--I know--of the two candidates in our faculty/staff newsletter.
One of the candidates is a professor of english, the other is an engineering prof.
One leadership statement is three pages long, the other is 3/4 page.
One statement contains a metaphorical deconstruction of the purpose of the position complete with flowery language and a one-page biographical sketch of the candidate; the other is pretty much a laundry list of stuff the candidate did and stuff he promises to do.
So, which candidate authored which statement? A poser, I know.
I laughed long and loud when I read these documents side-by-side.
The engineering prof wrote the short effective document. Right?
Yep. And although the English prof's document was lovely and lyrically written, I found myself dozing off halfway through.
Kinda like in the classes I took on British Romantic Poetry...
The field has sadly degenerated in the past 50 years. Time was when an English could actually write simple prose. What they call in Comp 101, a persuasive essay written simply, clearly, concisely and to the point.
Those were the days my friend!
...and I suspect that, all other things being equal, I'd almost certainly vote for the engineer, because he actually proposed doing things that were actually POSSIBLE.
Oh, and I goofed on the original post - the engineer is a female, the english prof is male.
I was sentenced to the faculty senate for two years. What a total waste of time.
There was this one old guy who, when the minutes were read, insisted on editing the grammar line by line. The real problem was, of course, that the staff person they had taking the minutes seemed to be unfamiliar with English. Not that it would cause her to lose her job or anything; it's state government after all. It was so embarrassing that they finally put a stop to it by making him edit them before the meeting.
Well you know who I'd vote for, but count on the English prof to win.
(Names, names, these posts are no fun without names.)