Quote:
Originally Posted by E. Shaun Russell
Perhaps someday I'll have the intention of teaching only the best and brightest at the highest possible level (i.e.: get my PhD.)
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Shaun, you will have to forgive me for reading only this far in your post, but at this point I keeled over laughing. You will be sadly disillusioned if you think that the PhD guarantees that a teacher will have "the best and the brightest" students.
There were something like 800 applicants, nearly all with PhDs, for every advertised position at any MLA conference in living memory. Many of those PhDs, if they find work, will find spots at small local institutions that attract students whose skills are all over the map. Some of them, though they may be great people, do not have excellent preparation, or models, or motivation. My Facebook friends who are college teachers sometimes post excerpts from student papers that make me wonder where to start in correcting them. Reread Katie's post: basic grammar and usage need a lot of coverage in the bread-and-butter courses where most of the jobs are.
I probably sound like I'm needlessly ranting at a tiny side issue in your post, and if so I apologize. But that one sentence just cried out for correction.