Customer Reviews

Teaching Amidst the Neon Palm Trees

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An interesting, on-the-mark read, especially for those in higher ed, and even more especially for those of us who still teach at CCSN. My comment on this book is quite simple: Some things never change. Except, of course, when they get even worse.

Albert Einstein once said that great spirits have always found violent opposition from mediocrities. This may very well be the case of Lee Ryan Miller.

While reading "Teaching Amidst the Neon Palm Trees" I found myself turning page after page, willing to discover more. It was as if I was reading an exciting thriller. Yet this is no fiction. This is what an innovative and enthusiastic young lecturer had to go through just because he was honoring his profession and giving the country the best possible service.

Lee Miller is not that important in this story. People could have been named A, B and C. Dr Miller could have been a clerk in an office, a postman, a school librarian, a storekeeper or a handyman. Anyone doing anything can be innovative and energetic. Anyone can give his very best and, yes, by doing so stands out. And the nail that stands out gets pounded down. It's a true and sad story indeed. Yet the publication of such a book is extremely positive.

This is an experience that Lee Miller is sharing with the world. He is offering a story of courage that should help all those who are willing to honor their profession and inject a dose of new life into their workplace.

I recommend Lee Miller's book to those who stand out or to those who are willing to do so.

As a student, you don't really know what goes on amongst the faculty when they decide which instructor gets what course in the next term. Sometimes the best instructors for a certain class or subject get overlooked for no rhyme or reason. Lee Miller shares about his experience working with students that wanted to learn and faculty that could care less about the dynamic programs Miller offered. Tales of backstabbing, misuse of funds, unprofessional behavior and frustration fill the pages of this book. Read it and ask yourself if you would stand up for yourself and do the morally right thing. Miller went through a lot of grief from the faculty. He found that the rigors of being a professor extended beyond the classroom but with his bosses. Let's hope that fellow instructors and educational institutions do not fall into the pit that Miller went through at CCSN.

While studying for my various degrees, I recall many of my professors lamenting the stressful politics associated with being untenured professors. It wasn't until reading Dr. Miller's book that I fully comprehend -- empathized with -- their laments. Dr. Miller's honest account of his expreinces as a teacher in the Las Vegas Community College system is an amazing tale of good verses evil that delightfully holds a reader's attention for hours. It's a story of the sad truth of our educational system eroding away to where meritocracy is punished and mediocrity is encouraged. This is a surprisingly interesting story, perhaps becasue we all have at one time or another experienced similar struggles with dishonest men and had to wrestle with how to maintain our personal integrity and how far we are willing to fight. I highly recommend the book to all readers, but especially to those in the teaching professions. Good job, Dr. Miller. Good job!!!

Lee Ryan Miller's Book is a perfect text book to clean up waste and what is ineffective about our Comunity College System. I can see that a henchman was sent to discredit.... but read it for yourself and see the patterns of the "underbelly." I could add book # II to his list and maybe we're redy for the recepie. This book takes you into the bowels of the system and tells you where the next volley of shots will be fired.... you bet they don't want you to read this one, as it will change community college elections all over the US.

And by the way..... go ahead and run for a public office like a board position and see how many "Sour Grapes" pop up.. you'll also get a chance to meet the true "underbelly" of the educational system and their buzzards that they keep circling for each and every little crumb and and :chink" in your "metal"... but keep the course and proceed as it will never change unless you take a grass roots approach and start with the drudeous tack of cleaning up the "underbelly"!

This book, while using the trials and tribulations of Academia, isn't about Academia at all. Its about doing the right thing, for the right reasons, no matter what. Lee Miller went the extra mile, and showed what he is made of. He could have been a Marine, or a Bus Driver. The message is still the same.

Join the author on a strange journey into the mismanaged world of the college system in Las Vegas. Meet the crooks that operate behind the masks of higher education, whose interest lies solely in money, power, fame, anything but education. The author's vivid and straightforward approach brings true life to these characters you'll grow to love and hate: the villainous college administrators, the corrupt student government, the cowardly colleagues, and of course the kindhearted supporters. Follow the engaging plots that intertwine into a startling conclusion. Be sad, be entertained, and be enraged. And the bonus... these are real people, real incidents, real names. Once you pick up the book and start reading, it's hard to put it down. Highly recommended to college students, professors, those who seek teaching positions in a college environment, or anyone looking for a good book to read.

What a surprise this book turned out to be. As a college student, it's hard to remember that the professor assigning you hours of reading per night is a person as well. Dr. Miller shows that graduating from esteemed universities, genuinely caring for one's work and students, and working hard to provide the best education possible for one's students doesn't guarantee a cakewalk. Dr. Miller offers great insight into the world of red tape, hierarchy, and corruption that often times is college administration.
Dr. Miller shares his trials of finding work, even with degrees as prestigious as his, opening his mind to new and different students and lifestyles (see the chapter titled The Ferengi, The Garbage Picker, and The Stripper), and coping with being an innovative, caring professor in a world of greed, deceit, and bizarre behavior.
Teaching Amidst The Neon Palm Trees proves that there are still people who are willing to go the extra mile for their students, and stand up for what is right. As a future teacher, Dr. Miller has inspired me to work hard for my students, try new things as a teacher, and fight corrupt administration. It may be true that no good deed goes unpunished, but sometimes the bad deeds get punished too.

Lee Ryan Miller deserves an award for exposing political corruption in academia. His first person account of his experience as a professor in Las Vegas, enables us to better understand the term, "Sin City."

This book read like a novel. As each page unfolded, I became more intrigued with the story. Facts read better than fiction in this case. He is a gifted writer. Let's hear more from him.

A first rate book from start to finish!

The author is a flaming liberal. We spend the entire book wondering why he is getting this rough treatment from superiors / colleagues which he documents in such painstaking detail. Amazingly, it is not until page 169 of this 175 page book that he casually reveals that the answer is AFFIRMATIVE ACTION. He explains that CCSN wanted to hire more Hispanics and that his supervisor was told to replace him with a woman. Incredibly, the author seems to sympathize with this goal and then quickly moves on to another topic. His downplaying of this issue is odd, because he mentions a dozen times that he felt his idea of free travel scholarships for poor students was a good idea. Hey, I think everyone could benefit from his class trip to Europe, but why in the world should taxpayers and the other students be forced to pay for those who didn't save their money? Tuition at CCSN is already greatly subsidized and all students have the opportunity to find a job and save money. Besides, maybe their choice of assistance would be something more essential than a free trip to Europe! The author also complains that he didn't receive money from taxpayers (in the form of unemployment compensation) because he didn't teach over the Summer. As a part-time CCSN teacher, I can verify that Summer jobs are not plentiful. Why in the world would a part-time teacher expect to receive a Summer teaching assignment, ahead of all the full-time teachers? If he was truly an educated and talented person, I'm sure he could have found work here, given our 3.5% unemployement rate and our conducive atmosphere for starting a business. He mentions that CCSN's budget for international student recruitment was $270,000, but doesn't seem to find anything unusual about this. Why are taxpayers paying this much money to bring foreign students here? We already have plenty of foreigners in this community... just look around. He briefly comments on the firing of Mike Meyers for using a possibly-derogatory nickname to describe Zelda Williams, but he fails to mention the biggest scandal of all at CCSN: Zelda received a $50,000 payoff by the CCSN President and Chancellor, even though a judge threw her case out of court and CCSN attorneys advised against awarding any money until they could investigate her claim of "emotional distress". The author also fails to mention the outrageous, multiple scandals where Wendel Williams abused his authority to take advantage of CCSN. The lesson to be learned here is that we should privatize the education system and stop abusing the taxpayers.