cornerofmadness | The Big Faculty Meeting

wasn't nearly as horrible as I was expecting. I almost missed it. I need to figure out what is wrong with my second alarm. I have two settings and #2 is for the earlier than usual mornings. I couldn't fall asleep and when I woke up I was tired and thinking I am NOT moving until the alarm goes off...Huh it's awful bright for it being before 7 AM. Oh fuck. The alarm was blinking but there was no sound. Helpful. It was 8 AM and I had less than a half hour to get ready and be there. I was 5 minutes late. Oh well.

I should remember that by far and large we're still mellow after summer break and no one has got full up on bitch like they have at the exit meeting in the spring. Mostly it was a visit from the Ohio Board of Reagents and our President to tell us all the changes in OH education and Obama's new, well meaning but ultimately punitive and doomed to failure educational changes. Obama wants to rate colleges on performance and graduation rates (as does the state of OH). Only one thing that will cause, the degradation of the level of education because if you pin all the money on that one thing, people WILL pass those who don't deserve it.

The OBR lady scared me with some graphics. I know I bad mouth Ohio often. I've lived here three different times, never liked any of them to be honest. I'm disturbed by these graphics from 2008. 15000 students entering middle school. only FIVE thousand graduate. that's a drop out of @10K students. WTF. Of that 5K, only about 3K enter college and less than 1,500 graduate. Between 50-60% of that 3K are college ready. See what I mean about Obama and OBR's idea of pinning all money on graduation? What can we do if we're getting that many students underprepared for school? It's rather obvious that we're failing them at the k-12 level. I have no idea how or why but it needs to change. The other graphic she had was on the recession and basically those with college educations have recovered to the point of 2008's level and grown. Without schooling, it has remained stagnated at 2008 levels. Yeah, school is important.

BUT it was a lot of free brain time to edit thru my novella. I came up with a lot of ideas when I was busy tuning out my fellow faculty who were whining only minimally.

However, to add to the stress, my program got picked for program review. Those in education know what I mean. For the rest, it's a hugely stressful time as the state comes in to make sure you're up to standards and basically pull everything apart. The fact that I'm a medical doctor and not a PhD can actually be an issue and there are 2 of us at my school. Just freaking great.

declutter day 111 item tossed -Thomas Kincaid light house why kept -My mother’s sister gave it to me. It’s pretty but I’m not a fan of Kincaid I kept it for her. why tossed -My aunt died nearly a decade ago. I’m going to give it to her daughter.

NOTE I did give it to my cousin, Val, and she cried. Both she and Mom asked me, 'did you notice the odor?' No, it was in the basement since 2000, did it smell like mold? No it smelled of Opium, my aunt's perfume. I have no idea how since it was in my apt for years before it went into a basement for more than a decade. I'd like to think it's happy being back with her daughter.