October 7, 2021

Nothing like finding Harvard University Press in my spam folder. Doesn't this say it all about college presses, and even more about Harvard, the university with the almost $42 billion (no, there is no typo here) endowment? Their email shouldn't end up in my spam; it should be in a folder labeled "caviar."

Normally I mass delete all my spam, not even noticing specific ones, but today I slowed down because of some rather bizarre-sounding subject lines or senders.  Even then, I had glossed over Harvard University Press as the sender of this particular one. I suspect it reached spam-dom because the email address attached to it did not even have Harvard or edu in it.

Still, I ended up rather enjoying the Harvard University Press recommendations in the body of the email. For those of you who know me, my enjoyment probably came for the wrong reasons:

1) Indentured Students: How Government-Guaranteed Loans Left Generations Drowning in College Debt. Yes, published by the entity with a $42 billion endowment.  Some of us are drowning while cruise ships motor past, the "isn't that a shame?" heard loud and clear from the tiny figures on the lido deck. "Lido? I missed that boat the day I left the shack/But that was all I missed and I ain't coming back."

2) The College Administrator’s Survival Guide. Where does ignoring our spam mail come in? I would place it high, although not as high as ignoring anything that claims to be a survival guide. Nothing irritates me more than notions that complex tasks or jobs can be reduced to simple guides or rules to follow.

3) The Privileged Poor: How Elite Colleges Are Failing Disadvantaged Students. Maybe, just maybe, there is a natural disconnect between seeing one's self as "elite" while seeing one's students as "disadvantaged." I don't know. Who am I to say? I have never been "elite."

4) Make It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning.  Promoted in the email as a "perennial bestseller," the book's title seems counter-intuitive, as if the promise to "make it stick" is mostly wishful thinking.

After these highlighted titles, then we get quick links to a few books by category: "teaching methods," "history of education," "teacher and student mentoring," and "guides for student success." 

This categorization diminishes the focus on specific books, but does allow us to find What The Best College Teachers Do and What The Best College Students Do, but just not together, probably the best way to indicate that these best teachers and best students may not be together in the same room. In addition, Stylish Academic Writing ends up in the "guides for student success" category and not the "teaching methods" section.  Might as well put it in the "fiction" section if the teachers don't get it.

Finally, I am offered a free download of Racism in America, which given that this was in my spam and that my IT department is warning me of the dangers of any links in spam mail, is unlikely to be downloaded.  The title is a bit broad and a bit unclear. I hope it is against racism in America, but nothing would surprise me anymore.

So it ended up a day where I liked my spam. Lovely spam! Wonderful spam!  Bloody Crimson!