tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1196651674832836865.post9140186654571059312..comments2023-10-20T06:31:29.919-05:00Comments on The Logic of Long Distance: A Defense of AcademiaJeff Edmondshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11840746835757479590noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1196651674832836865.post-88388155232815277542014-08-18T21:55:33.550-05:002014-08-18T21:55:33.550-05:00thanks for nicely post. i am pleased sure this pos...thanks for nicely post. i am pleased sure this post has helped me save many hours of browsing other similar posts just to find what i was looking for.Frivhttp://www.friv200game.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1196651674832836865.post-26227948364139708512014-05-12T07:20:25.447-05:002014-05-12T07:20:25.447-05:00Yes, it is difficult to find the time to write you...Yes, it is difficult to find the time to write your story <a href="http://www.premieressay.com/write-my-paper" rel="nofollow"> http://www.premieressay.com/write-my-paper</a> especially if you have a full time job but if you have the heart to do the things you love, you will find a way to accomplish it.<br />Ahamedhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16941590433247270275noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1196651674832836865.post-60591774911529641812014-03-01T22:06:33.887-06:002014-03-01T22:06:33.887-06:00Jeff,
Sorry to keep posting on this but here i...Jeff,<br /> Sorry to keep posting on this but here is an article: http://theblogologist.com/2013/12/quitting-academia-and-writing-about-it/ with links to several other good articles on leaving academia. One writer even organizes 34 "I quit" essays into different types of "Quit Lit".<br />-KevinAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1196651674832836865.post-61860629674605244812014-03-01T17:18:22.394-06:002014-03-01T17:18:22.394-06:00Billo!
Agreed about it all -- I think philosophy...Billo! <br /><br />Agreed about it all -- I think philosophy profs do feel these same pressures. I just want to say that all the tension and the stress and the impossible demands that academia places on folks, especially their best folks, is in the service of something good. Not perfect: I see a lot of what Kevin says about academia as true, but still good.<br /><br />Our college experience taught us to believe that it was all possible in academia -- that we could train hard, have great friends, have incredible teachers, and engage in research, all at a sustainable rhythm in a beautiful place. But of course a lot was hidden from us at Williams as well -- behind that experience was a lot of hard work and stress.<br /><br />At any rate, I guess I mostly wanted to step back from a place whose flaws I saw at close range and say something like: "Academia might suck in a lot of ways, but we are better off with it than without it."<br /><br />So glad you are still reading -- and hope our paths cross again some day in real life.Jeff Edmondshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11840746835757479590noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1196651674832836865.post-40650928729423233162014-03-01T15:54:43.010-06:002014-03-01T15:54:43.010-06:00Jeff, Great piece. Your thoughts resonate really w...Jeff, Great piece. Your thoughts resonate really well with me, as someone who is in a similar academic space right now. I would also add (with the above commenter) that it is hard to generalize about academia. I would say that in the biological sciences, at least, public outreach is part of the new norm--in other words, you have to do it all. You will notice that it is often the top researchers at R1 universities who have the most engaging and best developed research websites. This is crucial to attracting the best graduate students, and to obtaining NSF funding (which now pretty much requires some form of outreach as part of the research package). And it doesn't stop at websites. Lab blogs are very much the norm, as are Facebook pages in some cases. You will find that many labs will bring elementary school kids through once a year, or offer support to high school students on their science fair projects etc. I find it frustrating, on the other hand, when I go to many other disciplines to find out what professors are doing, and it is often hard to find even a functional website. It may be that biologists have a lot of interesting real world stuff to talk about, and a bit more of a knack for technology than other disciplines. All of this definitely puts pressure on the work-life balance, as you say. Between teaching and research, professors are already working way longer hours and less pay than other people of the same level of education. Throwing in outreach to the mix may very well tip the work life balance off-kilter and it is the rare individual who can take it all in stride. One other feature of laboratory-based research is the laboratory community, and this is one factor that may make it feasible. Perhaps the PI has a graduate student keep the website or blog up-to-date, or take the elementary school class on the tour. Philosophy professors may not have that luxury. <br /><br />Thanks again for this piece.<br /><br />Cheers,<br /><br />TimTimhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00777300675684467173noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1196651674832836865.post-49240188702286044932014-02-22T22:02:29.383-06:002014-02-22T22:02:29.383-06:00Jeff,
Appreciate the read as this issue is ...Jeff, <br /> Appreciate the read as this issue is pertinent to me as well (began in 2005 left in 2011). I read lots of these types of articles at the Chronicle, Inside Higher ed, and hear all kinds of complaints from my tenure track friends. Here is my two cents…That the Academic environment is difficult to generalize about since each dept. has its own culture and individuals can act in radically different ways within those depts. I do think academics tend to view their work as “special”. Having worked in ham factories, law firms, chamber of commences, universities et cetera I can say that work seems fairly similar everywhere. It seems to come down to balancing playing the game of intra-personnel politics and the ability to do the work (I naively went into the towers looking for a more “pure” intellectual engagement). Where this is ironic is that in my anecdotal experience it was in one university where I taught that intra-personnel politics constantly trumped everything else. Again though it is difficult to generalize I can say that I sat in intro classes at undergraduate liberal arts schools and had much more in depth conversations than in a R1 doctoral program(seminars were public opportunities to reaffirm some professors egos) . Yet, I have been a student and taught in “low ranking” state institutions where seminars felt like true explorations of ideas and students had sincere commitments to deepen their knowledge on a subject. I have no answers but do find it frustrating that when discussing “academia” that almost no articles take the time to clarify what academia is or what its purpose actually is(their seems to be this general assumption that it is good). I do not believe that knowledge is compatible with prestige based hierarchies in the long run; I mean the Mandarins had a run from the 6th century until 1912 in China but eventually external reality caught up with their insular world. Perhaps the greatest irony is that a good amount of humanities depts. have been hawking the philosophies of post-modernism since the 1980’s. A theory which claims that “knowledge” is nothing more than an institutional construct itself that has no value outside of the society in which the institution exists. I guess the irony to me is that the most post-modern professors I encountered saw ” knowledge” as displaying your acceptance of their rigid interpretation of post-modern ideology. Almost all never seemed to realize they were promoting an anti-institutional theory while using the arbitrary power afforded by their position as professors in said institution to encourage agreement. Perhaps most surprising is that they seem surprised when tax payers no longer want to fund their institutions after spending their entire careers proclaiming that knowledge is subjective. The last irony I will leave with is that most academicians think of the institutional model of current education as something eternal (its current iteration has only really been around since the 19th century). Many of the historical intellectual figures idealized by many were completely outside the educational frameworks of their times. I guess it boils down to this is knowledge a commodity to be bought through prestige based degrees/institutions or is it a more disruptive force not conducive to status quos, peer-review, tenure, departmental politics or hierarchies. I suspect the latter and would place a bet that academia will be around forever but in 50 years will look completely different than it does now. -KEVIN<br />“Why are the debates in academia so bitter? Because the stakes are so low.” -old joke I used to hear <br />Have you seen this?: http://www.slate.com/articles/life/education/2014/02/sexual_harassment_in_philosophy_departments_university_of_colorado_boulder.html <br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com