A few weeks ago, I wrote a column discussing the ineffectiveness of many administrative positions and complained about the resources those positions cost the University.
My argument hinged on the thought that students, given the necessary training and tools, could easily do the job of many administrators at N.C. State.
Subsequently, one of my professors and I have engaged in a rather long discourse about gained wisdom and institutional knowledge. While no fan of administrators, he argued that I was discounting them for the wrong reasons. He told me, in no uncertain terms, many of these positions were benefiting from years of institutional knowledge and I was engaging the concept from a youthful and naïve standpoint. Databases can have all the information in the world, but they can’t convey life experience.
Under some circumstances I have to agree with him, wisdom — some sort of rare combination of age and experience adds to the ability of a person to perform a task.
For example, given proper notes and adequate communication skills, thousands of people without any experience in a field could theoretically teach a class in it. Professors would become obsolete because universities would hire orators to teach everything from thermodynamics to bees and beekeeping. Students would receive the same notes from an instructor who could more adequately present them. Wouldn’t it improve the quality of education?
Of course not — the Socratic interchange of teacher and student is one of the essential parts of learning and the pursuit of knowledge. Most professors aren’t perfect lecturers, and they all have flaws in one way or another. But the wisdom and experience they’ve gained from years of studying and understanding a field enriches their understanding of the material. They can convey something beyond the notes and the textbook.
The particular professor who challenged my views on institutional knowledge would probably admit that he doesn’t know how to teach his field — although, to be obdurate, he would likely argue it isn’t teachable.
Nonetheless, the years he spent mastering the methods of the field allow him to impart a unique perspective and some semblance of knowledge.
Likewise, there are many administrators at the University who are truly inimitable, counselors who understand the world in the way an 18- to 22-year-old never could and employees who enrich and enliven the University experience.
Some positions at the University could never be replaced by a student with the same databases and the University would be hard-pressed to replace its professors with speakers and distance education classes. Students’ college experience would be irreconcilably harmed by the lack of wisdom — knowledge would get lost in translation.
I still maintain that students, receiving a fraction of the compensation, could fulfill many of the University’s administrative requirements.
Erskine Bowles, president of the UNC System, has made it clear that he wants universities’ bloated administrative ranks to be significantly reduced. And while I do hope that the University will listen to Bowles advice, I’ll admit that there are some positions that are better served by wisdom and experience than youth and a fresh eye.
The acquiring of knowledge through computers, databases and Google has transformed the flow of information and the way this generation views the world, but there are still cases where the typewriter, card catalogue and dictionary are important — even necessary.
