tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1055932257464975902.post6016968198858085949..comments2024-03-10T23:01:51.493-05:00Comments on Stupid Motivational Tricks / Bemsha Swing: AssholeJonathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09371893596402673898noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1055932257464975902.post-7688500274314220122013-06-08T20:50:02.002-05:002013-06-08T20:50:02.002-05:00On the tone of those pieces, sure. I didn't ta...On the tone of those pieces, sure. I didn't take it seriously since these were the vituperations of someone for whom things were not going well, and I grew up hearing professors say such things in bad moments, and I've been known to say them myself in similarly bad moments. They can seem true when you are looking at years ahead of adjuncting/VAP or at taking jobs that will require you to Leslie B.https://www.blogger.com/profile/10020364290777579994noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1055932257464975902.post-76192972861307057352013-05-26T17:01:15.596-05:002013-05-26T17:01:15.596-05:00I think I don't share your exact interpretatio...I think I don't share your exact interpretation. I was responding to something a bit different: the self-alienation that comes from not claiming your own work as your own. I was so irritated by the slate piece in which she complained about over-theorization. I read her chronicle of higher education piece in the same vein. Making fun of theory, like conservative pundits used to do in the 1980sJonathanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09371893596402673898noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1055932257464975902.post-32173617960370583612013-05-26T16:42:02.482-05:002013-05-26T16:42:02.482-05:00...and this discussion keeps coming back to me, as......and this discussion keeps coming back to me, as I work on my piece about governance. <br /><br />I am coming to the conclusion that this kind of punitive and self justifying attitude towards people who did not quite make it is part of what left the flanks of the whole edifice open, so the neoliberalizers could get in.<br /><br />I really do question the idea the two of you have been kicking Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1055932257464975902.post-90383795274388215372013-05-23T17:40:51.829-05:002013-05-23T17:40:51.829-05:00"To me, Schumann doesn't sound like a per..."To me, Schumann doesn't sound like a person who was a good candidate for a Ph.D. in literature, she sounds like more of a book enthusiast, I advise people who express themselves in the way she does to do other things."<br /><br />Now rescinding this, having finally wormed my way through LexisNexis and read more of her. This is someone smart. I guess you can have clubs where you Leslie B.https://www.blogger.com/profile/10020364290777579994noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1055932257464975902.post-25552276704340473132013-05-21T11:00:54.026-05:002013-05-21T11:00:54.026-05:00I also think that what we do is profoundly valuabl...I also think that what we do is profoundly valuable. I must be an asshole, too. :-) Maybe we should start a club.Clarissahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11027134365260069910noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1055932257464975902.post-71249438113571292322013-05-19T17:23:20.956-05:002013-05-19T17:23:20.956-05:00There's a lot to say about the way these thing...There's a lot to say about the way these things are discussed. If you get on a high horse and tell students it is the only valid career to have, and/or if you systematically shame them for thinking of other things, you will end up creating them as people with Schumann's feelings if they do not succeed.<br /><br />On the other hand, if you go around sighing about academia because that is Leslie B.https://www.blogger.com/profile/10020364290777579994noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1055932257464975902.post-90942406475448087862013-05-19T15:00:57.682-05:002013-05-19T15:00:57.682-05:00I'm a failed academic too -- in the sense that...I'm a failed academic too -- in the sense that I began grad school with the idea of becoming a professor, hung on till the degree and then went a different direction. But it was clear before I finished that teaching and research weren't for me, or more to the point, vice versa. And I moved on with the sense of loss, of disappointment in myself, rather than anger, and I still think that Vance Maverickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07477306994564623348noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1055932257464975902.post-75941499270579748892013-05-19T12:43:52.395-05:002013-05-19T12:43:52.395-05:00Oh, you mean about reacting to the Schumann piece?...Oh, you mean about reacting to the Schumann piece? Academia just hasn't been as good a place for her as for you, that's all. Re the "cult" thing, see what happens if you try to quit, and those aspects of it all come out of the woodwork. When I was not on job market and was working on FAFSAs for law school, people organized a phone tree such that I got regular calls from around Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1055932257464975902.post-81237067130456498192013-05-19T12:23:27.327-05:002013-05-19T12:23:27.327-05:00I'm an asshole like that too sometimes.
Somet...I'm an asshole like that too sometimes.<br /><br />Sometimes I wonder if we are not comparing the wrong things. The serious scholar may be as useful to society as the serious athlete or advertiser.<br /><br />Consider the value of lawyers and journalists alongside academics, for example. Many of them do a great deal of harm. But many do good. Isn't it like that with academics?<br /><br />Thomashttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04858865501469168339noreply@blogger.com