An older (Oct 2010) study in the Wall Street Journal discusses the value of education.  Is it quantifiable?  Recently, Texas A&M underwent a fiscal evaluation that attempted to prove just that.  Each of the professors at the school were audited along the lines of how much money they brought to the school (research grants, student numbers, and tuition received) versus how much they costed the school (salary, etc).  Some of the professors did extremely well; others not so much.

The university even broke down profitability by department, and the results were somewhat surprising.

Image and data courtesy of WSJ.

It\’s not surprising that chemistry rated so high.  However, it might be surprising to some of us in the humanities that History and English were both higher than the \”hard sciences\” of Physics or Aerospace Engineering. (That should prove to some people the value of these things!) These sorts of studies are certainly enlightening, but some wonder about the danger that it might create.

This new emphasis has raised hackles in academia. Some professors express deep concern that the focus on serving student \”customers\” and delivering value to taxpayers will turn public colleges into factories. They worry that it will upend the essential nature of a university, where the Milton scholar who teaches a senior seminar to five English majors is valued as much as the engineering professor who lands a million-dollar research grant.

Certainly in cash-strapped times like this, comparisons will be drawn and laws made (such as the one in Texas, mentioned in the article). However, how do you place a number on \”value\” rather than simple \”profitability\”?  There is no doubt that a new, non-combustion engine would affect the world in far more immediate and concrete ways than the translation of an otherwise unknown legal tablet from Summer. But, the value of the arts in relation to the sciences is far less linear than some might want us to believe.  There is no price on culture.  If the world were going to experience some cataclysmic event, people would be just as worried about protecting the Mona Lisa, the Gilgamesh Epic, the Bible, and Shakespeare as they would about protecting the theorems of science.

What did you think about the article?

(Thanks to Nathan Collier for pointing out this article.)

As mentioned in previous posts, I like having a cross- and inter-disciplinary approach to scholarship, academia, and pedagogy.  I think that any discipline can get itself into trouble when only their own crowd dictates and informs what topics they approach and the methods they use to interact/solve/answer them—academic incest, if you will.  To that end, I always try to bounce new ideas off of friends in many different fields, each of whom have varying philosophies on interpretation. (There\’s nothing quite like discussing ancient Semitic grammar with an engineer to help you write with concision and clarity.)

To this end, I also try to read from perspectives outside of an (excellent, surely) bibliblogosphere.  However, my google-reader subscription has been somewhat lacking in blogs of that nature.  However, thanks to expanding my net and some helpful citations from fellow biblioblogers, I\’m happy to add a few more to my list and figured I\’d share them with you.

ProfHacker:  ProfHacker is to education what LifeHacker is to electronics.  I\’ve not read through the entire backlog, but this certainly looks to be helpful for those of us who are, or plan to pursue, teaching.  A few key entries immediate jump out: Encouraging Effective Note Taking, and (a personal favorite because of a personal problem) Hacking the Office (aka, desk management).

Chronicle of Higher Education:  The main page for ProfHacker.  Though far more broad, and therefore somewhat less useful, this site hosts a tremendous amount of information to be sifted for gems.

LifeHacker:  While we\’re here, I might as well mention LifeHacker.  LifeHacker, honestly, has little to do with education or academia at all. Except for the fact that most of us have to deal with issues of time-management, computers, smartphones, and other accessories which make our professional lives easier, better, and quicker.  LifeHacker is particularly useful in letting me know about new MacApps, ways to use my iPhone, and other internet downloads that just make life easier (think notation software or citation software).

Matt Might:  I\’ve mentioned Matt\’s blog before, but he always merits a second mention.  Matt focuses in on the math and science aspects of education, but his advice consistently hits home for anyone, particularly his Illustrated Guide to the PhD, but really you should just peruse his article list and read the ones that seem relevant (and most of the ones that don\’t). 

What other blogs or resources have y\’all found that are helpful in forming yourselves as students or professors?

My good friend Joseph Bingham is finishing up his Law degree over at the University of Chicago and I constantly rely on him to find all sorts of news goodies for myself.  Considering his interests, most of them concern policy, politics, and economics, and I must admit that sometimes I have no idea what he\’s talking about or why anyone should care about what he posts. I\’m reasonably certain he feels the same about my own interests. 

However, a few days ago he posted a gem from Megan McArdle on the question of bias in the university. Her post, \”What Does Bias Look Like?\”, is an interesting read on the scientifically-proven disparity between liberals and conservatives present in the university system (and covering all disciplines). In her post, she attempts to explain the actuality, reason, and nature of this bias.  In her discussion she fields several possibilities for this statistic that don\’t include bias, but what I found most interesting were her discussion on the danger of eliminating \”out groups\” (whether on the basis of race, ideology, religion, or sex) from academia:

Unless we assume what to many liberals is \”proven\” by their predominance in academia–that conservative ideas have no merit–leaving conservatives out means that important viewpoints are excluded.  We are never the best interrogators of our ideas.  It requires motivated critics to lay bare our hidden assumptions, our misreading of the data, our factual inaccuracies.  No matter how scrupulously honest you try to be, you are no substitute for an irritated opponent thinking, \”That can\’t possibly be right!\”

 No matter how one considers him or herself––liberal vs. conservative; liberal-critical vs. evangelical; maximalist vs. minimalist––I think we can all agree that McArdle is probably right.  No matter how discerning I am on my own, there are things that I will miss.  No matter how many people look at my work, if they all agree with my conclusions, they will not question my methods or my precision.  I know that I learn more from, and provide better work because of, those people who disagree with me. 

As I mentioned before, I\’ve decided to start my own informal study of Akkadian.  In that vein, I decided to look around and see what what resources were available on the internet to help me in my pursuit. 

The first stop was ANELanguages.com, which is a great resources for all sorts of ANE Languages (imagine that, right?) including Akkadian, Aramaic, Classical Hebrew, Egyptian Hieroglyphic, and others.  Though the resources available for each language varies, and many of the links are dead, it\’s a great first-stop to get an idea for what\’s available on the internet.  The Akkadian page is here, and includes a nice list of resources, key among them is a link to free PDF downloads of the CAD! (Thanks to the Oriental Institute for their gracious allowance. Also note the terms of use). 

John Huehnergard has also placed a number of his articles and papers online and available for download,  there are a number of related materials available at PDF Pick, and you can see what Charles Halton has put up under his handy Akkadian Language category over at Awilum.  You also might want to check out a nifty explanation of the typography of the alphabet (Aleph Bet, anyone?  Or would you be more familiar with the Alpha Beta?).

Do any of you know of any other online resources available for Akkadian (or other Semitic language) study?

Since most of my readers are interested in either biblical studies, ancient near eastern studies, or both, most of us have considered going on an archeological dig at some point in their lives. However, if any of you are like me––that is, poor grad students––then this hasn\’t been feasible unless you receive funding from your institution.  However, there are some possibilities available if you\’re interested.

B.A.R. offers a scholarship to those who would be otherwise unable to attend (details here).  To apply, you\’ll need to \”simply send a letter to BAS dig scholarships, 4710 41st St., NW, Washington, DC 20016, or send it by e-mail to bas@bib-arch.org, stating who you are, where and why you want to dig—and why you should be selected for a scholarship. We require your mailing address, email address, phone number and the names, addresses and phone numbers of two references. Applications must be received by April 1, 2011.\” 

If you\’re a member (or your institution is) of ASOR, there are two scholarship opportunities (Heritage Excavation Grant and Platt Excavation Grant) that you should definitely look into. 

These really are great opportunities for those of us who haven\’t had the opportunity to go on an archeological dig before.  Perhaps you\’ll finally get to go to Khirbet Qeiyafa with Luke Chandler?

While on my much-needed one year hiatus from my standard school studies, I knew that I wanted to continue to develop myself.  So, aside from just continuing my Hebrew studies, I\’ve also been assembling a list of resources to study on other ANE history, religion, language, and literature.  I just got in my first book, and I\’m pretty excited to begin digging into it.

Since I\’ve been wanting to learn a cuneiform language for some time, and was told that Akkadian would be the most useful for my area of study.  After reading a number of reviews, I thought that Richard Caplice\’s Introduction to Akkadian (Amazon $17.95) would be a good start.  The main reason this was suggested to me, as opposed to Marcus or Huengaurd, is that the signs are actually large enough to read without a magnifying glass.  Having learned Hebrew from Jacob Weingreen\’s A Practical Grammar for Classical Hebrew (Amazon $50.74), which has print so small and so poor that it is many times impossible to distinguish Shegol from Sere, and Sere from Pathah, etc., I knew that I wanted to begin with something that was visually possible before moving onto another grammar. 

What other Akkadian resources would any of you recommend/used?

Also, what other resources would you recommend for me to acquire/study/read during my year of complete academic independence?

Well, I\’m now back from my quite long break.  There have quite a number of goings-on since I last posted, first and foremost among them is my finished thesis and course-work for my MA.  Once I get my finished copy back, I\’ll try and find some way of posting it here in pdf form for those of you who might be interested in looking at it. 

The break was equally productive, giving me time to spend time with family and friends as well as pursuing my plethora of non-academic interests which had lain on the wayside while I was finishing my MA.  While many of my friends often spend their school breaks to catch up on academic reading or other research, I\’ve always found it more helpful to attain to a very strict non-academic schedule.  While I do continue to read through my BHS (check out the Miqra\’ Group\’s 2 year read through!), I otherwise \”waste\” my time.  This break I read caught up on my other reading  (Brandon Sanderson\’s Mistborn trilogy was most enjoyable), television, and––most importantly!––rest and relaxation! My wife and I were complete bums; it was wonderful. 

Refreshed and re-focused, I look forward to getting back to my academic interests and endeavors and maybe even semi-regular blogging!

P.S., those who are similarly interested in the juxtaposition of sci-fi literature and biblical studies might want to look at the (now old news) possibility offered by James McGrath for a SBL session.

As anyone who\’s active in the blogosphere, peruses BAR, attended one of the past several ASOR conferences, or watched PBS is aware of, the finds at Khirbet Qeiyafa have caused quite the furor. The discoveries found there, while perhaps not as concrete as some might paint them, certainly appear to be the type of formative finds every archaeologist hopes to find. However, though the evidence continues to stack up against minimalists who have no room in their scholarship for an early centralized Israel, many proponents of that interpretation turn a blind eye towards the influences of the site.

As a good friend relayed to me, when at ASOR this past month he witnessed several presentations given by members of the \”Finkelstein School.\” At some of these, the finds at K.Q. were pertinent and various audience or panel members would inquire about the impact of the site on their research, and at every junction the reply was, \”There\’s no connection.\”

This story made me recall something I read earlier this year when writing a paper on the text critical issues of the synoptic episodes between Chronicles and Samuel-Kings in light of the (then new) discoveries at Qumran held on the debate.  In one of the several articles supplied by F.M. Cross, he discussed the somewhat radical nature of the find and the polarizing effect that it would have on several questions: the use of the LXX for textual criticism, the place of the MT\’s superiority, the understanding of the methods of the Chronicler, etc.  He then concludes with this gem:

The discoveries in the Jordan Rift, especially at Qumran, have initiated a new era in the study of the history of late biblical religion and of Jewish sectarianism. The assimilation of the new data will be slow. Older scholars will prefer to ignore the new materials: The ferment they produce is too strong for their stomachs. I listened to the late Yigael Yadin read diatribes against his colleagues accusing them of ignoring the Temple Scroll he published. Of course, it is uncomfortable to be told that here is a new scroll—go rewrite all your books. Or, “Here is a new Jewish library of the third to first centuries, B.C.; examine all your old presuppositions, retool, and start afresh.” New directions in research will rest largely on a young generation of scholars. I envy those who will live to read the new syntheses the future will bring (Frank Moore Cross, \”Light on the Bible from the Dead Sea Caves,\” Understanding the Scrolls: A Reader from the Biblical Archeology Review (Edited by Hershel Shanks. New York: Random House, 1992: 156–66), 166. 

New discoveries are difficult.  It\’s never fun to have something come up that leaves you with academic egg on your face, especially if you\’re heavily invested in the now-obsolete views.  I know that I would be somewhat upset if new research came out in a few years, or ever!, that rendered my thesis on how to read Chronicles invalid.  However, I hope that if that happened I would retain the academic integrity to say, \”Mea Culpa.  I did the best I could with what I have, but now I have more information and it\’s time to move on.\”  If I didn\’t, I could end up trading whatever influence I could have in order to save face.

Hopefully, all of us, whether scholar, student, or thinker, can agree that that would be a terrible trade.

(P.S. This was all written in an effort to avoid studying for my comps which are tomorrow. Wish me luck, but remember: Procrastination will always triumph!)

As someone who very much looks forward to teaching, I\’m constantly on the look out for useful materials, examples, and methods.  After talking to one of my good friends who\’s a post-doc at KAUST he recommended I look at an \”illustrated guide to a phd.\” And let me say, this is certainly something that I\’ll be using for future classes. (All thanks go to Matt Might, for his extremely helpful and insightful work.)

Hubris has been the death of many a scholar.  Here\’s an injection of humility for us all.

See here for the Illustrated Guide to the PhD.