In which I declare independence

I wish people would not make grand sweeping statements, especially when they are not entirely well-advised, as in "End the independent study. Forever. Done and done."  (This may be why I'm never going to make a career blogging about politics.) Certainly, as Schuman says, beginning graduate or undergraduate students should not take independent studies--which is why my campus requires them to have completed six credits of coursework prior to taking one (i.e., they need to get through their first semester).  I see no reason why other departments shouldn't impose similar limitations, although a dedicated sexual harasser will find other ways (or are we going to ban office hours next?).  Beyond that, while it is true that faculty are generally not compensated for leading independent study sessions, although some departments have ways of negotiating around this, it is not true that there are no good reasons for ever doing such a thing.  Here's an example.  We have two versions of the independent study: 1) "independent study" (not based on an existing course) and 2) "directed study" (a one-person version of an existing course).   Because our MA students are usually working full-time and therefore can only attend one class per day, the chair tries to schedule courses so that there are no conflicting time slots.  However, because we're a fairly small department, course offerings are also rotated according to the period, so MA courses in one field will always be in Semester X and MA courses in another in Semester Y.  (This is in part to make sure that faculty who are willing to teach MA seminars--as seminars are only offered at night, not all faculty wish to do so--have their assignments spread out over time.)  Students who, for some reason, get their calendars out of "sync" with the rotation (didn't plan far enough ahead, took a LOA, had to drop a class, etc.) may find themselves stranded at the end.  Either they have to pay extra $ to take a course at another university, twiddle their thumbs for a semester (or longer), or...wait for it...they take an independent or directed study.  Indeed, I'm teaching a directed study next semester for that very reason.  This is not something that can be remedied by the democratizing effects of a "reading group," since it has nothing to do with elitism and everything to do with the urge to actually finish one's degree--which, as far as I've observed in my seventeen or so years here, is the number one reason our students ask for independent or directed study.  That's not to say that our students don't pursue independent studies in order to study subjects that aren't normally on the curriculum--for example, one or two of my colleagues with language expertise have taught independent studies for the few students really interested in the area.     Now, perhaps graduate students at UC Irvine who did independent studies had more "personality conflicts with other faculty and students," but I would gently suggest that this is probably not the case.   

Comments

[servetus]

It's amazing to me that an author who has never been employed in an academic department in a tenure track capacity (and thus presumably has never seen a department meeting from the viewpoint of a true insider or bothered to take the time to understand the concerns that motivate permanent and voting faculty to take certain decisions) writes over and over again about curriculum and the politics of hiring in academia as if she is an expert to so much apparent approval. This isn't the first incident. One would like to think that in graduate school one would learn to write essays that are not simply based on ones own prejudices but that involve actual investigation, and criticism of, data.

[FM]

I wish I could 'like' the previous comment.

I would also point out that not all independent studies are alike. Both in my undergraduate/graduate education and in my job now, independent study was the way research credits were applied. They are 'free' to the administration as I don't get any load reduction or pay for them, but they aren't at all the 'closed door' experiences described in the referenced essay, and in no way do I think there is ever a subtext or opportunity for impropriety.