… about why American university professors are bitterly jealous status-obsessives in this comment thread at Asymmetrical Information.
The thing seems to have been kicked off by an article Arnold Kling wrote… wait… let me go there…
Okay, so Kling wrote this:
…My tip on becoming a successful academic is to be careful how you define success. Any tenured professor has a great life by most standards. However, the default sentiment in academia is bitter jealousy. The folks at lower-tier schools think they belong at top-20 schools, the folks at other top-20 schools think they belong at Harvard, and the folks at Harvard think that they deserve more recognition than the other folks at Harvard.
Once you get on the ego treadmill, not only do you become bitter, but you have to start viewing others not for their intrinsic qualities but for their usefulness as stepping stones. If you can stay off of the ego treadmill, then success becomes more a matter of being near friends and living in an area with the type of amenities you prefer.
April 22nd, 2008 at 6:13PM
"bitterly jealous status-obsessives"?
Hmmm…
Having done time in industry, I don’t agree.
Of course we have our egomaniacs in academia, who could argue with that. But most of the faculty I deal with on a day to day basis are pleasant hard-working people. Maybe this is an aberration?
For many of us, our students are our most important product and also the research that we manage to do. If we are lucky it is exciting, whether it is writing a book or doing a crystal structure. Many of my students have made great contributions to society and their education has made this possible.
I love the fact that I don’t have to punch a time clock, although I spend a lot more time on my job now than I did when every 15 minutes of the day had to be accounted for.
I can bitch and piss and moan and no one will chop off my head. Try that in industry. This is one of the best jobs in the world – so sue me.
Bonzo