How do you guys deal with articles like this?

[Silent_G]

You both seem like very bright, level-headed, and articulate people and you're just coming out of undergrad. Consider the position you'll be in if you throw yourself full force into an MA, Silent G. You're going to be like a superhero the next time you apply to PhDs.

Thanks, Trip! I really look forward to being colleagues with you when we're both professors.

[Two Espressos]

I graded a paper last semester about affirmative action where I took the student to task for factual inaccuracies and logic errors. It was NOT because he disagreed with me; I explained to him that there was a logical argument to be made against AA, but his was not remotely logical. He also obviously hadn't brushed up on the topic at all before choosing to discuss it. I agree about objectivity being a fiction, but I also try hard not to wade into murky political waters with my students; I don't want to take away all of their autonomy, and being a teacher is such an authoritative position. I feel bad enough crushing their creativity when I'm teaching them how to write formal research papers.

Very true. I don't have any teaching experience myself (besides tutoring, which doesn't count anyways!), so I'm speaking from an idealization of what teaching would be. I may find myself doing the exact opposite of what I intend.

BTW, you can talk like a grad student all you want; I think you got this one next year. Let me know if you need an SoP/WS reader when it comes to it.

Thanks, that means a lot to me. I'll definitely take you up on the SoP/WS offer, though you'll be in Ph.D.-student mode come this fall, so you may not have much free time on your hands! Haha.

Edited March 23, 2012 by Two Espressos

[Rupert Pupkin]

Are you saying that you think Universities only admit lower-class students out of tokenism?

[veniente]

I think that at graduate level admittance is based primarily on potential, prior academic achievement, and fit.

[NowMoreSerious]

"I know that my life is amazingly awesome and I probably have the best job on the planet. However, if there are more people performing my job, it makes me feel less valuable. If I know that anyone can do it (i.e., you can do it), it makes me feel less special for what I have accomplished. So even though the payoff for you is that you will potentially have the greatest job ever imagined by humanity, I would say it isn't worth it."

?

Not to jump in here, because I know you were being a bit satirical, but I don't know any professors who express that sentiment. Most professors I know are pretty stressed out and feel all kinds of departmental and institutional pressures to publish, teach, and serve on committees.

[NowMoreSerious]

In reality, the powers that be probably don't mind us containing ourselves in institutions instead of marching in the streets. The only way they maintain a semblance of social control is by funneling conscious working-class people into niches where they'll be happy and stay quiet.

Sorry, I realize how pessimistic and conspiratorial that sounds. At least I'll get to brainwash up to 75 kids a semester in the future.

Edit: The future American subaltern is who they'll really have to worry about in the future, that is if the economy stays bad.

I agree. Or even better, funnel them into political positions that seem radical but actually reinforce hegemony. In that case they don't have to stay quiet. They can say all they want. They might even be the most "radical" prof on campus.

[GuateAmfeminist]

I think that at graduate level admittance is based primarily on potential, prior academic achievement, and fit.

I don't think adcoms do worry about things like socioeconomic status or race per se - they obviously look particularly at materials that rarely broadcast human diversity, but rather intellectual diversity. I do think that university admins in general think about "diversity" in race, class, etc. so I'm sure that has to effect things somehow.

Edited March 23, 2012 by GuateAmfeminist

[TripWillis]

Not to jump in here, because I know you were being a bit satirical, but I don't know any professors who express that sentiment. Most professors I know are pretty stressed out and feel all kinds of departmental and institutional pressures to publish, teach, and serve on committees.

I don't know any professors who express the "best job in the world" sentiment, but I do know plenty who find their job very fulfilling.

[Fiona Thunderpaws]

I don't know any professors who express the "best job in the world" sentiment, but I do know plenty who find their job very fulfilling.

Likewise. And in the end, a job is something one does to make one's livelihood, and there's good days and bad days at the job. I love being a student, but doesn't mean I'm not basking my head on a desk in the library somewhere at least once a month. I think the backlash against humanities phds aspirants borders on vilification.

[antecedent]

Likewise. And in the end, a job is something one does to make one's livelihood, and there's good days and bad days at the job. I love being a student, but doesn't mean I'm not basking my head on a desk in the library somewhere at least once a month. I think the backlash against humanities phds aspirants borders on vilification.

I know very few people in any industry who think they have "the best job in the world." I know people who enjoy their work, feel passionate about it, and find significant meaning in it, but most of them won't deny that there's drudgery to be found in any employment, and some days work just sucks. For me (and perhaps for us) the life of an academic is the most rewarding career path I can imagine (much like, for my cousin, being a mechanic is the most rewarding career path he can imagine, and believe me he is both successful and financially stable, but most of all, he's happy. The man lives and breathes cars the way a lot of us do literature/language/rhetoric etc).

And I agree that there is an an aggressiveness that borders on vilification in a lot of the attacks on the humanities. I wonder how much of it is rooted in fear, bitterness, cowardice, or resentment, since clearly it's not actually based in any sort of concern for graduate students or their well being.

[Stately Plump]

Not to jump in here, because I know you were being a bit satirical, but I don't know any professors who express that sentiment. Most professors I know are pretty stressed out and feel all kinds of departmental and institutional pressures to publish, teach, and serve on committees.

You're right, I was just being satirical. I was mainly responding to the videos that had been posted earlier.

I've never met professors who express those sentiments either. But I have been told my many professors that they love their job and wouldn't trade it for anything else in the world. I watched my father's profession tear my family apart across several generations, and his job is not fulfilling in the least. I believe I probably have a pretty romantic vision of life in academia, but I am also incredibly excited and passionate about it.

And I'm looking forward to getting to know everyone on here professionally

[lapelosa]

In reality, the powers that be probably don't mind us containing ourselves in institutions instead of marching in the streets. The only way they maintain a semblance of social control is by funneling conscious working-class people into niches where they'll be happy and stay quiet.

Sorry, I realize how pessimistic and conspiratorial that sounds. At least I'll get to brainwash up to 75 kids a semester in the future.

I just want to say that there are some seriously awesome people up here in the Grad Cafe.

[Two Espressos]

I just want to say that there are some seriously awesome people up here in the Grad Cafe.

I know, right? I think it's so awesome that these people could be my future colleagues.