The following comments, from chronicle.com, are about the article "Confessions of a Bad Academic Adviser," by Mark Montgomery (The Chronicle Review, August 13).

 Unfortunately, too many faculty members fail to see the teaching components and opportunity in developmental advising (what the author seems to mock as simply being student neediness). It's not just the cost of a private liberal-arts college that warrants better advising; it is a vital component for advancing a liberal-arts education. Advising is actively included in the promotion-and-merit evaluations of faculty members at my public liberal-arts college (much less expensive than Grinnell) for this very reason.

My undergraduate experience was much like the author's: I also went to a large state university and managed to avoid my advisers except for signatures, and I came out fine. After working off this poor example from my past, however, I've come to realize what students gain with an actual advising relationship and what I missed out on. So I wonder why the author doesn't take this more seriously.

***

One of the functions of academic advising should be to help students become independently functioning adults who take responsibility for their own progress, so that by the time they are juniors (if not before), they need to consult with me only for approval of their proposed schedules or with certain problems (mostly involving course timing or availability). This, of course, assumes that my department and I have made all sorts of aids and training available to help students decipher the curriculum requirements.

The other function is to be a general life adviser and confidant, and it's here that things can get a bit sticky. I want to be known as a caring person, someone who has a beneficial effect on his students, and I can provide all sorts of career guidance advice, but I didn't major in counseling, and I suspect that I'm not terribly good at it; so this is the part that often gives me fits. I try to recognize when students' issues are beyond me and suggest that they see someone in our counseling department, but they are often reluctant to go.

It seems to me that it's in this second area that demands on our advising skills have gotten more acute over the years. I suspect that at some colleges, faculty members are encouraged to do more in this area because it's cheaper than hiring more qualified counseling staff. So the question of the interfacing of advising and counseling needs to be given more attention. But it's easier (and cheaper) to imply that academics these days should be possessed of automatic counseling skills simply because they've earned a Ph.D.

***

This article was offensive. It might have been amusing if it had been written by someone who had left academe and had found a profession better suited to his personality and expectations. Regardless of how deeply flawed the system of academic requirements and advising is, and of how unreasonable or simply unsophisticated some students are, there is no excuse for Professor Montgomery's snarky, belittling tone. I assume he has tenure. Everyone empathizing with Professor Montgomery's experience should try to put himself in the position of the student or of the naïve parents who believe that their kids will get some help in navigating a poorly designed system of "requirements." I am a teacher and a parent of college students. I hope my children and my own students do not encounter too many advisers with Professor Montgomery's attitude.

***

I really enjoyed this article. I read it because I worry about my failings as an adviser. I can really identify with some of the situations the author describes. He is far from making fun of advising. Obviously his students feel engaged with him, or they wouldn't be sharing their experiences of his advising with him. But how I wish for simple requirements. At my large university, the rules are so complicated, and so many classes are either unavailable or at conflicting times, that we have (thankfully) a full-time professional adviser to work out the logistics with each student. That gives us some backup as we try to guide students to new opportunities and experiences.