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No, not the bootstrap-pulling, metanarrative forming “progress” of modernism, although on occasion that’s a nicely packaged set of ideals.  The progress to which I’m referring is in regard to the traffic jam pile up of academic work due at the end of every quarter here at SPU, which normally wouldn’t be all that bad if it weren’t for the unfortunate coinciding calendar of my work due in SIS.  *On a sidenote, doesn’t “SIS” sound like something much more sinister and subversive (in a covert operative kind of way) than “School of Intercultural Studies”?  I mean, just look at wikipedia’s list of SIS acronyms- most of those sound pretty cool (except for maybe “small intestinal submucosa”- that sounds gross).  Sorry, I digress.  I’ve been writing in academic mode for the last few weeks and so it feels nice to just ramble.

Anyway, about the “progress” (as if any of you care)- my paper (about “incarnation, confrontation, and imagination” in a missional theology of cultural engagement) is done, and now only the grading remains, which brings me to the next point in this stream of consciouness post: grading is really hard.  It’s not the actual reading, editing, or critiquing; instead it’s the quantitative, evaluative component that I honestly struggle with.  I have a difficult time translating qualitative assessments (like “this paper is pretty good at this, and not so great at that”) into actual grade points.  There’s an inevitable bell curve in every class: a few students/groups with stand out work, a few who didn’t quite cut it, and everyone else in the middle.

Another complication is a common flaw of young professors (or so I’m told): being too nice.  It’s hard for me to remember the level of critical thinking that is “average” or appropriate for undergraduate students, and so at times I find myself making excuses for them.  Maybe they didn’t understand my instructions, or perhaps they’re just not capable (at this point) of doing the kind of work I want them to do?  Regardless of the explanation, I probably need to just get over the initial difficulty of giving some bad grades.

Advice for a young professor?