a political metaphor
So, let's say you're an academic department hiring a professor. Professors have many & varied job duties, and a person who is good at one duty is not necessarily good at all of them, research vs. teaching being the most notable comparison. In an ideal world you'd get someone who was stellar at both, but a lot of the time you have to make a trade-off: brilliant researcher who has the potential to revolutionize the field, but is an ineffective and uninspiring teacher? Or someone whose research is just chipping away at the same-old, same-old, but who can convey the fundamentals of the field to students in ways that create genuine enthusiasm and understanding?
Which you're going to hire depends on your circumstances. If you have a lot of students who are ill-informed, lacking in self-confidence, and cynical about education, it is probably not time to hire that brilliant researcher. You want the teacher.
This is why I'm excited about Obama. In elections I usually put far more weight on the "research" end of things: is this person devising solutions that are truly progressive, that will radically change how we do things in this country? It's why I sometimes end up voting Green, and why I'm often disappointed in Democratic candidates. But there's also this "teaching" component: can this person get a wide variety of citizens to understand the fundamentals of the progressive approach to politics? I think this component is vital at this point in our national history, and I think is where Obama is going to excel. (This, BTW, is another job duty where recent Dem candidates have not been stellar, to say the least.)
In general I disagree with the "research" of conservatives, but I think the most damning thing about the past eight years is that the administration hasn't tried to teach anyone anything. They've relied on emotional manipulation (and outright lies) to get "students" to parrot their position. That's brainwashing, not education. I think we have a nation full of people who haven't been exposed to the fundamentals. I think that right now, getting a lot of them on board on subjects like "how we take care of each other in a democracy" and "how we fit in to the community of nations" is so important, I'm more than willing to forgo ground-breaking research in this hire. And next semester, maybe we'll have a bunch of students who are actually ready for Progressive Action 201, or even 401, once this foundation is laid.
Which you're going to hire depends on your circumstances. If you have a lot of students who are ill-informed, lacking in self-confidence, and cynical about education, it is probably not time to hire that brilliant researcher. You want the teacher.
This is why I'm excited about Obama. In elections I usually put far more weight on the "research" end of things: is this person devising solutions that are truly progressive, that will radically change how we do things in this country? It's why I sometimes end up voting Green, and why I'm often disappointed in Democratic candidates. But there's also this "teaching" component: can this person get a wide variety of citizens to understand the fundamentals of the progressive approach to politics? I think this component is vital at this point in our national history, and I think is where Obama is going to excel. (This, BTW, is another job duty where recent Dem candidates have not been stellar, to say the least.)
In general I disagree with the "research" of conservatives, but I think the most damning thing about the past eight years is that the administration hasn't tried to teach anyone anything. They've relied on emotional manipulation (and outright lies) to get "students" to parrot their position. That's brainwashing, not education. I think we have a nation full of people who haven't been exposed to the fundamentals. I think that right now, getting a lot of them on board on subjects like "how we take care of each other in a democracy" and "how we fit in to the community of nations" is so important, I'm more than willing to forgo ground-breaking research in this hire. And next semester, maybe we'll have a bunch of students who are actually ready for Progressive Action 201, or even 401, once this foundation is laid.