由難得的共識談起

一開學的會議後，幾位感同身受的老師，難得痛快地分享對教學評量的感受。有人說要應該對得到 4.9 (out of a perfect 5)的老師擴大表揚 (OS: 給他專用廁所、施予斷層掃瞄更好)；我還是舊調重提，認為全校平均4.26 (OS: 即將受到退場機制衝擊的學校，其平均值也是在4.0以上)，不可思議。往好處想，我們的學生應該沒有抱怨的理由啊，難怪校園一片祥和、沒人刮老師的車、沒人跳樓、也不必擔心斧頭或開山刀，KTV生意興隆。大家可能看過一段極浪漫的文字："魚對水說，你看不到我的眼淚，因為我在水裏；水對魚說，我能感覺到你的眼淚，因為你在我心裏。"
以類比法改寫：少數對我給分失望的同學說，老師你不知我的痛，因為你總是面對成績冊。我說：我能感受你的痛，因為你給我的評量，永遠在我的考績檔案裡。haha I like it!
P.S. 其實，在我的母校(Purdue)，老師對優良教師的頭銜，多是敬而遠之。When I was an Assistant Professor teaching in USA, I was also naive (even stupid) to believe that professors should focus on teaching first. After a decade or so, I now realize that even in these days, the lack of having a good judgement on the quality of teaching (let alone the red tape) forces professors to justify and secure their existence (including paychecks) by engaging in research activities which can be better appraised by better people in better places for many years to come.