On Sep 22, 2012, at 3:59 PM, Paul M Foster <paulf@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: > On Sat, Sep 22, 2012 at 01:05:51PM -0400, Tedd Sperling wrote: > >> Hi gang: >> >> I know it's the Day after Friday, but I'm asking a off-topic question anyway -- sorry. >> >> Normally, I teach a PHP class at the local college, but it got canceled (don't ask why) -- now I'm teaching Java. >> >> So, can anyone recommend a Java list that is similar to this list? > > Off off topic... > > Who the hell cancels a PHP class? Do they not realize damn near the > whole internet runs on PHP? Wordpress, Drupal, Joomla, Facebook ad > nauseum, not to mention Symfony, CakePHP, Code Igniter, etc. > Administrators! Ach! > > Paul Paul: The class was canceled by administration and they have absolutely no conception of the technology and scope that PHP brings to the table. In fact, they were so opposed to PHP that when I first started teaching there they had PHP removed from their servers because of security concerns. So, for me to teach PHP, they were forced to install PHP/MySQL. Now that you asked, here's the story about my PHP class. The college moved the entire CIT (Computer Information Technology) department five miles from the downtown campus, where it has always been, to the new West campus. It's a nice campus, but no Macs -- admin said Mac don't meet their ROI requirement, but that's another story. Of course, most students don't have transportation and there is no established public transportation from main campus to west campus -- that's not good. Knowing that the students were going to have problems with transportation and that would result in a reduction in class sizes, the administration agreed to allow "smaller than norma"l classes for the Fall semester. Furthermore, the administration agreed to allow registration to be for a longer period than normal, namely from a couple of weeks before the semester started to a week after the semester started. Everything sounds ok, right? My PHP class had six students register two weeks before the class started. I expected, as is custom, to pick up a couple of students after the semester started thus exceeding the minimum number of student required. Furthermore, I agreed to teach the class at a reduced rate if there wasn't a sufficient number of students attending. BTW, administration had not made a determination as to exactly what the minimum class-size should be -- keep in mind, they only had two years to decide and these things take time. So what happened? Well we (the teachers) have a new contract and in that contract is a provision that allows for a reduced class size IF the teacher agrees to teach it at a reduced rate -- which I agreed to do. However, administration became confused as to how to pay a full time teacher IF they taught an undersized class. So, their solution was to cancel ALL under sized classes before the semester started. That way there would be no confusion as to what to pay. Now, in my case I am the only teacher to teaches PHP, so there would be no full time teacher that might teach it. I am also an adjunct (part time) teacher and as such there is no confusion as to my pay. I am simply paid hourly and a reduced class size would result in my rate being reduced. So, there was absolutely no reason what-so-ever for my class to be cancelled. Leaps and bounds of illogic. This is just another example of how administration makes decisions. It would be nice if administration decisions were made with respect to "what is best for the student" as compared to this type of nonsense. Cheers, tedd _____________________ tedd@xxxxxxxxxxxx http://sperling.com . -- PHP General Mailing List (http://www.php.net/) To unsubscribe, visit: http://www.php.net/unsub.php
