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Monday, June 2, 2014

10 WDL With No More Brains Than You Have

The Wizard, played by Frank Morgan, is trying to give the Scarecrow the very thing that will convince him that he has those brains he's been demonstrating to his friends and the audience throughout the adventure to the Witch's castle and back.

"Back where I come from we have universities, seats of great learning -- where men go to become great thinkers.  And when they come out, they think deep thoughts -- and with no more brains than you have . . . But!  They have one thing you haven't got!  A diploma!" He reaches behind himself and pulls out a collection of diplomas, choosing one for the hay-headed adventurer.  "Therefore, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Universitatus Committeeatum e plurbis unum, I hereby confer upon you the honorary degree of Th. D."

Ray Bolger's Scarecrow queries, "Th.D.?"

The Wizard proclaims the full title in his best Barnumesque voice, "Yeah -- that . . . that's Dr. of Thinkology!"

(Script found at Wendy's Wizard of Oz pages)

This scene delights me because it parallels my own view of academic degrees.  I do not believe that they are proof of one's ability to think.  They are proof of one's ability to get an academic degree.

I completed my MA in speech and theatre and went on for the PhD because I knew that the doctorate was the required "union card" for work in academia.  And I wanted to teach because it seemed so much easier to me than fast food work or house cleaning, the other jobs for which I had a few skills.  (I'd bailed from journalism, finding it too stressful.) 

I enjoyed many of the courses I took in communication and I had a great time busting my ass at the University of Utah.  I deepened and broadened my understanding of human communication and also increased my desire to be a strong instructor who created a fun learning environment.  I also swore that I would not be a postmarxist hypocrite like some of the professors who wrote as egalitarians but taught as tyrants. 

But really, did I need a PhD to teach at COCC?  Academically, no, not really.  I've used the material I learned in my masters and doctoral courses in only one or two classes each year.  Here are the courses that benefited from my advanced learning: 
  1. Introduction to Film
  2. Persuasion
  3. Communication Theory (I created this course and killed it almost the same year it was so out of step with our students)
  4. Media, Communication, and Society
  5. Gender Communication
  6. Introduction to the Rhetoric of Film
  7. Introduction to Visual Rhetoric
  8. Popular Culture: Noir Film and Fiction (I got to teach this once when Greg Lyons was on sabbatical)
I did NOT need a PhD to teach the bread and butter core courses that I've spent most of my life at COCC instructing:  Public Speaking, Interpersonal Communication, and Small Group Communication.  What I needed in order be a competent teacher in those courses was
  1. the ability to read and understand a textbook
  2. self-awareness and the ability to self-monitor my own communication skills and/or lack thereof
  3. the self-esteem to be honest about my own performance, even when it's flawed
  4. other-awareness
  5. a "we" attitude
  6. an interest in teaching methods
  7. the ability to read nonverbal messages
  8. enthusiasm
  9. respect for diversity of opinions
  10. a winning smile
  11. the appearance of sincerity
  12. respect for my customers/clients/students

My skeptical attitude toward the doctorate was born out of the persecution my spouse faced at Idaho State when he refused to get a doctorate.  He'd been working at the college for six years when it became a University in 1963.  After refusing to go back to school to stick a doctorate on top of his MA in Theology and Literature from the University of Chicago he was given a heavier load and be treated like a second class citizen.  So in my twenties I was living with someone who read two or three books a week, taught brilliantly and who had little respect for advanced degrees.  I also saw how he suffered because he didn't have a doctorate.

So I got the doctorate to avoid suffering?  Pretty much.  I did the work so I wouldn't have to work so hard later.  And what did it teach me?  Persistence.  Grit.  As I've told my students often enough, I wrote a 388 page book that perhaps six people have read.  I couldn't write the whole thing at the last minute so I also had to learn how to plan and take it one step at a time.  Afterwords, having seen one book to completion, I knew that I could write another one.  (And so I have, but none of the later works have yet to get out of the garage.)

My Dad used to be very proud of the doctorate.  He shared the view that some of my students have that its magic -- that it makes me special.  In fact, my sister told me that once when she was visiting with Dad he introduced her to a friend and then, as she's standing there, says, "And my other daughter has a PhD."  And that's a pretty fucked thing to do.  Dad had a respect for academic degrees that I don't share.

Should I have been hired to work here?  Well, that's an interesting question.  I know that I got the job in part because I was working toward a doctorate.  I was expected to complete the dissertation and get the degree before getting tenure.  It was neck and neck!  But at age 40 I did get tenured, PhD'd and published. 

So maybe I needed the piece of paper to get the job, but I didn't need it to do the job.  All I needed was brains, courage, heart, and a little dog too.









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