MAT３７のこじろうです。最近SITのメールアカウントにmass emailが届き、MATプログラムが大幅に縮小されると聞きました。卒業生としてはMATプログラムが縮小化されること、また納得いく理由を示されずにこの決断がなされることに危機感を感じています。
何か自分にできたら、と思いこのトピックを立てさせていただきました。ご存知の方もいらっしゃるとは思いますが、以下にRay Clark から届いたメールをpasteします。私もWorld Learning "Share your story"に意見を投じたいと思っています。
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Raymond C. Clark
Pro Lingua Associates
PO Box 1348
Brattleboro, VT 05302
February 7, 2008
Dear MAT Alumni and Friends,
In today’s Brattleboro Reformer (http://
there is a press release from the administration of World Learning: “World Learning board approves changes to SIT graduate program.” I am writing to inform you about the present situation as it affects the MAT Program and to invite your views and action.
First, however, allow me to explain why I am writing to you. I have been involved with the MAT program since its beginnings in 1969. I was the director of MAT in the formative years, from 1972 – 1979, and I was faculty and director from 1991-1998, when I retired from SIT after 32 years of service. Recently, I have been teaching part-time in both the AYMAT and SMAT programs. Throughout this past fall, I have participated in several faculty meetings in which the faculty has been told by the administration that MAT will need to change to fit into the developing World Learning strategic plan. In today’s Reformer article it is announced that “the organization plans to scale back on the MAT program.” As a very interested party, I think you should know what this means.
The strategic planning process is now entering its second year at World Learning. After a year of preliminary work, the implementation of the plan was announced on January 10, 2008 and was approved by the Board of Trustees on February 2. It is an ambitious, bold plan, with many dimensions. For the purpose of this letter I will focus only on MAT.
Under present Senior Management, World Learning plans to re-shape itself as an international non-governmental organization, and in so doing, to redefine the role and purpose of its constituent parts: SIT, the Experiment in International Living, and World Learning for International Development in Washington, D.C. In broad terms, the intent is to build a unified organization, whose locus shifts from the Brattleboro campus to several “instructional” sites around the world, including Brattleboro. Financial viability is to be enhanced, and the component parts will function in a more collaborative manner. There are many dimensions to this change in organization, programming, and structure – too many to communicate in this brief letter. Many are quite interesting and exciting. But it is a different story for MAT.
For MAT, to put it bluntly, the implementation decisions are potentially devastating. As of 2009:
• Full-time faculty are to be reduced by 50% from 9.5 faculty positions to 5.
• The SMAT Program, if it is done at all, is to be run by 1 of those 5 MAT faculty as a series of disconnected short-term workshops taught by adjunct faculty. It is not clear how this configuration will lead to an MAT degree. This coming summer will likely be the last SMAT class as we know it.
• The AYMAT Program enrollment is to be targeted at 30 students, and is to be taught by 4 faculty with some courses taught by adjunct faculty. If this can be done, it will probably mean the elimination of the French, Spanish, and ESL Certification courses of study.
As mentioned above, the official description is that MAT is to be “scaled back,” and it is assumed that the programs can still maintain their high quality with 5 faculty. Given such limitations, I am sure the faculty will work very hard to fashion a re-designed quality program, but the long-term future of MAT at SIT appears, at best, precarious.
Besides these troubling changes, the process by which they were reached has been disturbing. To date, the Provost and Graduate Faculty Dean have not provided faculty with the financial model they used to justify these cuts in MAT. Nevertheless, they presented the decision to the Board, who approved it “unanimously and enthusiastically.” When asked directly if the Board was committed to the MAT Program, the Chair answered, “It’s an excellent program, but it is not financially viable.”
MAT faculty and programs are to be cut, yet no financial data to justify the cuts were given to faculty. The only justification is the claim that it costs too much to recruit (italics mine) students. Thus the faculty had no access to financial information, either to verify the claim of financial non-viability, or to propose a viable alternative. This process is contrary to every planning process that I was ever involved with in my 32-year career at SIT, most of those years as a program mnager. Now that the Board has made its decision, the Provost has promised to share the financial model with faculty – after the fact.
Since the plan was announced in January, MAT faculty and staff have challenged it and pointed out the flaws in the decision-making process, but the Provost and the Graduate Dean did not alter their plan. It was presented to the board, the board supported the plan, and the Chair stated that the Board’s decision will not be reviewed or changed. He added that severance packages were discussed at the meeting. I am confident the faculty will continue to constructively question the plan and the process and will attempt to offer viable alternatives once the financial model is revealed. But frankly, the odds do not look good for MAT. I am concerned that these decisions may be only the first in a series of moves that will diminish the role of MAT to a point that it is no longer a viable academic offering.
The current AYMAT students (those on campus and nearby) have protested to management and to the Board, citing the strength and quality of the program and MAT faculty, and the power of the educational experience – to no avail thus far.
Obviously this has been a stunning blow to all of us here in Brattleboro. As a former director of MAT, I can attest that MAT has faced similar challenges over the years, and that we worked collaboratively with the administration to meet the challenges without sacrificing the quality of the program. However, I can see that in those years there was more support for language teacher education and its role in intercultural education and the mission of the institution. As a result, MAT was able to survive. However, times have changed at World Learning.
Since their inception, SIT and World Learning have built their international reputation first and foremost on the teaching of languages and cross-cultural communication. You who have gone on to represent SIT and MAT have indeed established a name for our programs that is enviable, and not only in the world of teaching languages. Unfortunately, in many ways this drastic cut in MAT is the latest chapter in a history of the diminishing importance of language, language teaching, and language teacher training. In today’s Reformer article, the word “language” is never used. The administration seems not to see second language classrooms as places of importance, where skilled intercultural educators help people bridge cultures through language learning. Language teacher educators appear to be even more irrelevant to the current leadership.
What can you do? Here are a few options:
1. Spread the word. I will send this email to many, but as I do not have access to SIT’s alumni email lists, I cannot reach everybody. So please pass this email on.
2. I think MAT needs to build its image within the institution, so please tell your own story on Our World, the official website of World Learning’s alumni, designed to provide information about the institution and about alumni. Go to
http://
a) why MAT matters to you.
b) how your work has been influenced by MAT.
c) how you live the mission of SIT.
d) Make sure to include the number of your MAT class
So that your stories may be used to support the programs send a copy to matmatters@gmail.com
3. Voice your concerns or questions about the decision to cut MAT faculty and programs. Send an email to provost@sit.edu and also to sitalumni@sit.edu. Send me a copy to matmatters@gmail.com.
4. Donate to the MAT Excellence in Teaching Scholarship. However small the amount, this donation shows the connection of MAT alumni to the MAT Program. The greater the percentage of MAT alumni and friends who contribute, the greater the visibility of MAT within World Learning.
5. Send any news articles that feature your work. Send an email to sitalumni@sit.edu with a copy to matmatters@gmail.com.
I believe that your voices, your stories, and your views have a rightful place in deciding the future of the MAT programs. The MAT degree that you have earned has an unequalled international reputation, and it should not be diminished in any way. I believe you need to be heard. And I believe there is a sliver of hope, the possibility that in the coming months the senior managers can be swayed if the voices are many, loud, and heartfelt. Now is the time to speak out and be heard.
Thank you for listening. This letter has been long, but the issue is very important.
Ray Clark
何か自分にできたら、と思いこのトピックを立てさせていただきました。ご存知の方もいらっしゃるとは思いますが、以下にRay Clark から届いたメールをpasteします。私もWorld Learning "Share your story"に意見を投じたいと思っています。
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Raymond C. Clark
Pro Lingua Associates
PO Box 1348
Brattleboro, VT 05302
February 7, 2008
Dear MAT Alumni and Friends,
In today’s Brattleboro Reformer (http://
there is a press release from the administration of World Learning: “World Learning board approves changes to SIT graduate program.” I am writing to inform you about the present situation as it affects the MAT Program and to invite your views and action.
First, however, allow me to explain why I am writing to you. I have been involved with the MAT program since its beginnings in 1969. I was the director of MAT in the formative years, from 1972 – 1979, and I was faculty and director from 1991-1998, when I retired from SIT after 32 years of service. Recently, I have been teaching part-time in both the AYMAT and SMAT programs. Throughout this past fall, I have participated in several faculty meetings in which the faculty has been told by the administration that MAT will need to change to fit into the developing World Learning strategic plan. In today’s Reformer article it is announced that “the organization plans to scale back on the MAT program.” As a very interested party, I think you should know what this means.
The strategic planning process is now entering its second year at World Learning. After a year of preliminary work, the implementation of the plan was announced on January 10, 2008 and was approved by the Board of Trustees on February 2. It is an ambitious, bold plan, with many dimensions. For the purpose of this letter I will focus only on MAT.
Under present Senior Management, World Learning plans to re-shape itself as an international non-governmental organization, and in so doing, to redefine the role and purpose of its constituent parts: SIT, the Experiment in International Living, and World Learning for International Development in Washington, D.C. In broad terms, the intent is to build a unified organization, whose locus shifts from the Brattleboro campus to several “instructional” sites around the world, including Brattleboro. Financial viability is to be enhanced, and the component parts will function in a more collaborative manner. There are many dimensions to this change in organization, programming, and structure – too many to communicate in this brief letter. Many are quite interesting and exciting. But it is a different story for MAT.
For MAT, to put it bluntly, the implementation decisions are potentially devastating. As of 2009:
• Full-time faculty are to be reduced by 50% from 9.5 faculty positions to 5.
• The SMAT Program, if it is done at all, is to be run by 1 of those 5 MAT faculty as a series of disconnected short-term workshops taught by adjunct faculty. It is not clear how this configuration will lead to an MAT degree. This coming summer will likely be the last SMAT class as we know it.
• The AYMAT Program enrollment is to be targeted at 30 students, and is to be taught by 4 faculty with some courses taught by adjunct faculty. If this can be done, it will probably mean the elimination of the French, Spanish, and ESL Certification courses of study.
As mentioned above, the official description is that MAT is to be “scaled back,” and it is assumed that the programs can still maintain their high quality with 5 faculty. Given such limitations, I am sure the faculty will work very hard to fashion a re-designed quality program, but the long-term future of MAT at SIT appears, at best, precarious.
Besides these troubling changes, the process by which they were reached has been disturbing. To date, the Provost and Graduate Faculty Dean have not provided faculty with the financial model they used to justify these cuts in MAT. Nevertheless, they presented the decision to the Board, who approved it “unanimously and enthusiastically.” When asked directly if the Board was committed to the MAT Program, the Chair answered, “It’s an excellent program, but it is not financially viable.”
MAT faculty and programs are to be cut, yet no financial data to justify the cuts were given to faculty. The only justification is the claim that it costs too much to recruit (italics mine) students. Thus the faculty had no access to financial information, either to verify the claim of financial non-viability, or to propose a viable alternative. This process is contrary to every planning process that I was ever involved with in my 32-year career at SIT, most of those years as a program mnager. Now that the Board has made its decision, the Provost has promised to share the financial model with faculty – after the fact.
Since the plan was announced in January, MAT faculty and staff have challenged it and pointed out the flaws in the decision-making process, but the Provost and the Graduate Dean did not alter their plan. It was presented to the board, the board supported the plan, and the Chair stated that the Board’s decision will not be reviewed or changed. He added that severance packages were discussed at the meeting. I am confident the faculty will continue to constructively question the plan and the process and will attempt to offer viable alternatives once the financial model is revealed. But frankly, the odds do not look good for MAT. I am concerned that these decisions may be only the first in a series of moves that will diminish the role of MAT to a point that it is no longer a viable academic offering.
The current AYMAT students (those on campus and nearby) have protested to management and to the Board, citing the strength and quality of the program and MAT faculty, and the power of the educational experience – to no avail thus far.
Obviously this has been a stunning blow to all of us here in Brattleboro. As a former director of MAT, I can attest that MAT has faced similar challenges over the years, and that we worked collaboratively with the administration to meet the challenges without sacrificing the quality of the program. However, I can see that in those years there was more support for language teacher education and its role in intercultural education and the mission of the institution. As a result, MAT was able to survive. However, times have changed at World Learning.
Since their inception, SIT and World Learning have built their international reputation first and foremost on the teaching of languages and cross-cultural communication. You who have gone on to represent SIT and MAT have indeed established a name for our programs that is enviable, and not only in the world of teaching languages. Unfortunately, in many ways this drastic cut in MAT is the latest chapter in a history of the diminishing importance of language, language teaching, and language teacher training. In today’s Reformer article, the word “language” is never used. The administration seems not to see second language classrooms as places of importance, where skilled intercultural educators help people bridge cultures through language learning. Language teacher educators appear to be even more irrelevant to the current leadership.
What can you do? Here are a few options:
1. Spread the word. I will send this email to many, but as I do not have access to SIT’s alumni email lists, I cannot reach everybody. So please pass this email on.
2. I think MAT needs to build its image within the institution, so please tell your own story on Our World, the official website of World Learning’s alumni, designed to provide information about the institution and about alumni. Go to
http://
a) why MAT matters to you.
b) how your work has been influenced by MAT.
c) how you live the mission of SIT.
d) Make sure to include the number of your MAT class
So that your stories may be used to support the programs send a copy to matmatters@gmail.com
3. Voice your concerns or questions about the decision to cut MAT faculty and programs. Send an email to provost@sit.edu and also to sitalumni@sit.edu. Send me a copy to matmatters@gmail.com.
4. Donate to the MAT Excellence in Teaching Scholarship. However small the amount, this donation shows the connection of MAT alumni to the MAT Program. The greater the percentage of MAT alumni and friends who contribute, the greater the visibility of MAT within World Learning.
5. Send any news articles that feature your work. Send an email to sitalumni@sit.edu with a copy to matmatters@gmail.com.
I believe that your voices, your stories, and your views have a rightful place in deciding the future of the MAT programs. The MAT degree that you have earned has an unequalled international reputation, and it should not be diminished in any way. I believe you need to be heard. And I believe there is a sliver of hope, the possibility that in the coming months the senior managers can be swayed if the voices are many, loud, and heartfelt. Now is the time to speak out and be heard.
Thank you for listening. This letter has been long, but the issue is very important.
Ray Clark
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