That's what I mean. Some people are more productive, others less so. At my university, they always started the year off with these endless spiels by the administrators who never had anything to say but "this semester we need to do EVEN BETTER than last semester. Of course, the way to do better would involve giving the faculty time to prepare better course materials, evaluate better what they did the previous semester, discuss what works and what does not with others teaching the same courses. What would NEVER improve instruction is to sit in an auditorium listening to administrators introduce one another and give useless pep talks.
In the public schools in Miami, they always planned what were called "teachers' workdays" on Jewish holidays. If you were Jewish, you got Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur off (and could stay home: no one ever had to bring a note from a rabbi). If you were not Jewish, you had to attend five hours of administrators introducing themselves and listening to some ghastly motivational speaker spout banal generalities.
Public schools, however, do have one advantage: they are more considerate of educators' bladders,and would have a break every hour. College administrators gave themselves pee breaks, but often forgot that three speakers talking for 45 minutes each is excessive. At some point, about twelve or thirteen of us would all rise and head for the john.
