Should've Been A Professor

When I was in college several of my teachers urged me to go into teaching. They said with my skill in language and insight into meaning (their words - not mine) I would be very good at it. I, for a number of reasons, some good but most not, I did not pursue that career. It looks like I made a mistake.

The State of Michigan paid its public university professors 23.2 million dollars for paid sabbaticals. The idea of a sabbatical was originally for professors to update their learning so that they would not be passing on dated information. That was back when professors actually spent more time in the classroom then they do today.

I do agree with the question: If universities are so strapped for money, is this the best use they can put it to?

Professors are supposed to give the school reports on how they used their sabbaticals. At Michigan State 77.8% of sabbaticals were not reported properly.

I wish I could take a semester off from my job with full pay.

Curiously enough, the critic of sabbaticals in the article is a professor of economics from Ohio State named Richard Veddar who wrote a book called Going Broke by Degree: Why College Costs Too Much. Sabbaticals are not the whole reason but they need to be looked at.

Please note: I am not criticizing professors who make proper use of sabbaticals, but with schools facing a money crunch and every dollar counting, we need to make sure these are properly used and not merely extended paid vacations from the classroom. The proper use should be encouraged but improper use should result in disciplinary action.