I am writing to take issue with your Dead Week editorial (“Unheeded rules make Dead Week truly killer,” ODE, Dec. 1). First, I personally honor Dead Week. The final term paper for my class was due this week, but a full draft was due two weeks earlier, and everyone had full warning in the syllabus.
Second, I do not know any faculty who did not work most of the “holiday,” contrary to the editorial comment: “When it is almost assured that few professors will spend the same time preparing for their next week of school.” Before you say things like this, I recommend you try a day or two of our lives. Have you ever graded papers or prepared lectures? Most students who do these things gain a much better appreciation of their faculty.
Let me fill you in on how I spent the
holiday: (1) I graded papers, which is
time consuming and non-trivial; (2) I prepared lectures; (3) I prepared a study guide for the final; (4) I wrote a lot of letters
of recommendation; (5) I read application files for a faculty search; (6) I worked on
a grant proposal that, if funded, includes
money for both undergraduate and graduate education.
I slept fewer than five hours each night because I was working hard to catch up. I wasn’t the only person in my department working either — I saw most of my colleagues at work over the holiday.
Bitty Roy
Associate Professor of Biology