by Shant Shahoian
Glendale College

Want to start a riot in the faculty lounge? Tell the Academic Senate the English Department is toying with the idea of making Freshman English a four-unit course. Just whisper it, under your breath. After a long moan, you’ll hear, in the distance, the hooves of the four horsemen—any collection of administrators and faculty in other departments—and the shrill cry of the apocalypse, the end of days. You’ll run from the swinging pens, dripping with red ink, and the sharpened pencils hurled at your face.

Okay, maybe this is an exaggeration. But I’ve taught at five different colleges in Southern California, and this one topic has always struck a nerve with colleagues. Scantron forms in hand, they protest, “You only teach twenty-five students in each class!” Remembering the single research paper they assign every term, they argue, “We all have papers to grade.” Upset that they...

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