Spurious Loathsome Odious

Here is an excellent article written by David Clemens from Monterey Peninsula College. As an economist I love data. However, I was always troubled by how the data for SLO's are collected. During my one year tenure at RCC I served on the Assessment Committee and their system was very different from Rio Hondo. At that time each Department had a list of Learning Objectives and individual faculty would choose which objective they would assess. Yet at another school Saddleback (link to their form) each instructor seems to sets their own Learning Objectives. At Rio (at least in Econ) we assess the same objectives. So across the state we are collecting different data and thereby I think the "S" in SLO stands for Spurious.

After reading the article by David Clemens, I realized how much extra work the SLO requirement has created for the faculty. I do not mind the extra work because I do not have a life outside of work, but I do understand why most of my colleagues find this process Loathsome.

Finally, I find the whole process interferes with Academic freedom and Odious. There are many Professors with their own looney theories but I believe the students learn from exposure to these crazy ideas. As a person trained in economics I believe in, my own looney idea called, free markets and that includes the market for ideas. The idea of teaching to a test reminds me too much of the great writings of F.A. Hayek's Road to Surfdom and George Orwell's Big Brother from 1984.