Monday, August 15, 2005

Stupid School

Ah yes, my alma mater; they is really good at grammar! Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe the statement on the above is not correct grammar. Shouldn't it be "The faculty are really good; they care about you."? The above image is from the homepage of none other than the University of Missouri-St. Louis. They are working hard to improve student recruitment and retention, and apparently they're appealing to those students who ain't got no grammar skills!

4 comments:

gimlet said...

Don't even get me started about my experiences as a student at UMSL. As a student, it was very rare to find a faculty member outside of the Honors College that cared about the university (as described by Robert M. Pirsig in Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance).

As I observed, most believed only that as faculty at a university, they were privileged members of an elite class. They did not seem to feel obligated to (or interested in) create an environment conducive to higher learning or a collegial atmosphere.

There were some notable exceptions. Most of the professors who taught at the Pierre Laclede Honors College were sincere in their efforts. Deans Fausz and Bliss in particular seem to have been successful in creating a tightknit, cohesive liberal arts-centered college-within-a-college. Kathy Walterscheid and Dennis Bohnenkamp were also instrumental in this. Unfortunately, these faculty members were definitely the exception rather than the rule.

So different was the atmosphere in the PLHC, that former Chancellor Blanche Touhill falsely accused Dean Fred Fausz of fostering a hostile attitude of Honors College students to the rest of campus. She actually had "auditors" questioning students about this - I was one of the ones they talked to. The truth of the matter was that the positive dynamic of the College was such a contrast to the stifling mediocrity of Touhill's reign that of course the University's best students would love the former and hate the latter. Fausz ended up taking one for the team and "returning" to teaching history. Incredible.

I won't even go into what I saw as a staff member for over five years.

As a second generation graduate of UMSL, it's utterly disgusting to see what a waste it has become. I hope that the sort-of new chancellor, Tom George, can make a difference, but I think the inmates have run the asylum for long enough that it cannot be reformed from inside. I'd like to see the place cleaned up, not for personal reasons (it's in the past now), but for the current and future students and for the state taxpayers that finance the place.

JBear1982 said...

I am still going here, two more semesters to go. I soo can't wait until I'm out. Some professors care, others don't. As usual most think their class is the most important class that you will ever take in your life. Yeah right.

Anonymous said...

so umsl's new web page is almost indentical to slu's ... it looks like they are being a copycat ...

Anonymous said...

Local Author/Educator Featured at February 2, 2008 Fete Event


Partners in Pelts: The French Fur Trade in 18th-Century Illinois

Fred Fausz, Ph.d

The Fur Trade was central to the economic and social development of French Creole colonies in the Illinois Country. Dr. Fred Fausz, history professor at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, will present an entertaining show-and-tell public lecture featuring his incomparable collection of furs and trade goods from the Voyageur Era.

About the Author:

§ Dr. Fred Fausz is an internationally-respected scholar of Indian- European relations in the 17th and 18th centuries and organized the 9th North American Fur Trade Conference in 2006.

§ Three of his publications have won "best essay" awards from historical societies in Missouri, Virginia, and Maryland, and he received the 2007 (Missouri) Governor's Award in the Humanities for Service to Community Heritage.

§ He drove his Museum on Wheels over 13,000 miles during the Lewis and Clark Bicentennial, presenting public lectures in Missouri, Illinois, Kansas, Iowa, Nebraska, and Oklahoma.

§ Fred's book on Auguste Chouteau and the Founding of St. Louis will be published in 2008.



Dr. Fausz’s presentation will take place at 2:30pm, Saturday, February 2, 2008 in the Holy Family Parish Log Church, located adjacent to Hwy 157 and Route 3, Cahokia, Illinois followed by a colonial period fur fashion show at the old Cahokia Courthouse at 3:30pm. The Fete du Bon Vieux Temps Committee and the Holy Family Parish are sponsors of Dr. Fausz’s program.

The event is free to the public. For more information, call 618.332.1782.