Powerful interests in the institution had staked their reputations, and the institution's, on this program. An evaluation that appeared to threaten that reputation might be squashed flat, and anyone doing such a study squashed along with it. A divining rod is a forked stick made of witch hazel that traditionally has been used to find water underground. The trained dowser walks along, holding the divining rod in a certain way. When the rod seems to jerk downward, the dowser stops and digs for water.
Fear can be a divining rod for finding a good evaluation target.
That's because evaluation is a tool for reducing important uncertainty. But most people aren't accustomed to doing evaluations to reduce uncertainty so they hide the anxiety, sometimes even from themselves. So after talking about other things for a while, we returned to the unthinkable and began to think about it. We brainstormed for a while. Eventually we concluded that, for at least some instructors, the heart of good teaching lies in their ability to notice, diagnose and respond to learning difficulties experienced by individual students.