A Delocalized Focus

So, I've been thinking on some things lately and some stuff I've been told and have realized that the focus this country (perhaps even the whole world) possesses is down right ridiculous. It needs to change if we want to be better people.

Take a moment to think back on your school career. Who taught you how to read? How to write? How to do math? How to perform chemical reactions? I can guarantee your parents didn't teach you all of those things. It was your teachers and professors. These people who dedicate their lives day in and day out to pass on the knowledge they hold. They are the ones who taught you the majority of what you know. Yet, do we thank them for it? Sure, maybe you write them an email later in life saying thanks, or you give them an apple on the first day of school. But, let's look at it from this angle.

Say you become a doctor. Once you become well known, you can easily make a six figure income. Easily. Same with a lawyer. Want to enter in on intelligent property (basically protecting copyright and trademark sorts of things), you can even make 1.5 MILLION dollars a year. Now that you know the high end jobs, let's look at your professor.

Your professor has been at the university a number of years. They only lecture. They get EXCITED about a job at some public school that could have gotten them 39k a year. Obviously, you're looking at a person who doesn't even make that. Let's look at your dean. I figured a dean at UT would be making at least 200k or so, driving around in a new BMW or Mercedes, and owning a huge fancy house. I don't have an exact number for how much a dean makes, but if they drive an old minivan, I highly doubt it's anywhere near 200k.

What I'm getting at is this. People only teach because they have a huge passion for the material and love to work with students. Anyone doing it for the money is plain out of their minds. But why is it that we place the teacher income salary so low when they are the foundation of everything? We place so little importance on education. We'd rather fund wars, off-shore jobs, and dump money into beautifying the world. Why don't we re-route some of that money and put it where it matters? After a while, people will stop caring. Teachers won't put effort into their jobs. And then, what remains of our education system dies.

Alright, President Powers wants to launch a $3 billion initiative to make UT the number one public university in the nation (maybe even the world...I'm not sure exactly how far his goal lies). But, from what I've read, that money would go into building better buildings and facilities and would go towards funding of more research. If you want the best university, not just public, but THE best university, you need the best professors, the best researchers, the best students. So, you're a public university. You fought the Top 10% Rule once and lost. Maybe you can't get purely the best students. But, if you increase the amount you offer to professors, or the potential for raises, you attract the better professors. They go where the money takes them. And at a time when the economy plain sucks, the money is going to do all the talking.

I want to see my college, the College of Natural Sciences at UT, be the best college. I don't want us to say "Yeah, we have a Nobel winner in physics and a decent chem/biochem department." No, I want us to say "We have several Nobel laureates across all the science and math disciplines and the best math and science departments of all universities in America." No where does it say we can't be better than Harvard. I know we can. We just need to refocus our attitudes and get things done.

Alas, I must get back to my studies. At the very least, I can allow a professor the comfort of knowing that there is one student who cares enough to do what they can and attribute their successes to all that have taught her over the years. Farewell everyone and retain your focus as this wonderful year finds a quick close.