no news about grad schools.

but, i think i have made a decision. i was planning on applying to school here where i currently work. there are lots of advantages: free school, get paid while going to school, i know a few of the profs. however, i think i have decided that the negatives are too great: the school is very new and at least two of their teachers just graduated from the same program; they have no international connections (no one outside of mexico is really aware that the program exists); the program is in disarray after almost being dismantled a year ago.

of course the main reason i am thinking of nixing the whole plan is that i am no longer happy where i work. i bitch about it all the time so i wont waste space here doing so, but i am ready to just say fuck it and move on. right now i am looking at some places in south america, but at this point i am open for just about anything. hopefully i will be accepted into one of the programs i applied to, but if not, i will simply wait another year and apply to more schools in the fall.

this is rather a difficult decision for me. one of my best friends here is going to be teaching in the phd program, and he and i were both excited about working together. but, the more i think about it, i dont like all the incest: you cannot simply graduate a bunch of students from a phd program and then give them jobs in the same school. the point, as far as i know, is to get outsiders, fresh blood, into the program. otherwise, you are propagating a system of education that is stagnant because though the students will naturally have tendencies somewhat different than their teachers, their perspective is limited because the program studied and the program to be taught is the same.

at least, this is what i am telling myself. nevertheless, i am nearly positive that universities in the usa do not hire from their phd programs, and this is why there is often great diversity and new ideas. there are probably negatives as well, but today i am seeing the positives.

in general, i feel like i am done with the school where i currently teach. my new boss is absolutely horrible and the new head of the high school is so bad that directors of programs in the high school (humanities, language, etc) are applying for part time teaching jobs in the university and other schools just to get away from her.

sinking ship. and i will be damned if i am the captain.