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increpatio
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« Reply #555 on: 21:14:32, 29-11-2007 » |
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c) never (but never!) make the mistake of implying that you are ever in a position by default to give tutorials to students, or to see them at will I was always careful about this. d) if you are ever asked to sit on a committee, reject the proposal as steadfastly as you can
 g) think of yourself as a kind of "monk" following the simplest of routines
I can imagine myself rather being happy to be a monk in a different time, with a different conception of religion. h) never (ever!) show the slightest outward aptitude for computers! Always go out of your way to demonstrate complete incompetence in their use - that way others will do it instead in the misplaced belief that "it will be easier and quicker" than teaching you how to do it Oh yeah; I know this one. I've gone out of my way to avoid all computer courses for the last fie years If these simple rules are adhered to, an academic these days can manage to survive - albeit in isolation (both professionally and socially) - while only working for as little as 72 working hours per week (throughout the entire calendar year). My supervisor described it as an easy, low-stress, good-holidays type of career actually! (though most people I know describe it in terms closer to yours ... I think also that it does vary depending on one's field.) |
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thompson1780
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« Reply #556 on: 21:16:46, 29-11-2007 » |
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inky,
Don't think that because you've made a decision to leave academia that you have to rush to make a decision about what to do to earn a living. Try a few things. Think about what swtches your buttons. Settle when you have a passion for something you are earning from.
Tommo
Department of not heeding one's own advice.
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Made by Thompson & son, at the Violin & c. the West end of St. Paul's Churchyard, LONDON
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Baz
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« Reply #557 on: 21:35:27, 29-11-2007 » |
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martle
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« Reply #558 on: 21:51:43, 29-11-2007 » |
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Baz, you cynic!  I may post my C21st list at some point... |
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Green. Always green.
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trained-pianist
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« Reply #559 on: 22:00:54, 29-11-2007 » |
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ncrepatio, Don't believe your supervisor. I saw too many distaught people in academia, people whose paper was rejected with mean comments, people who tried to balance their teaching lot with trying to do research while there was more and more meetings and committees, students who want to get good grades for nothing.
The whole life in academia is another Vanity fair (like many things in life).
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increpatio
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« Reply #560 on: 22:06:43, 29-11-2007 » |
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ncrepatio, Don't believe your supervisor. I saw too many distaught people in academia, people whose paper was rejected with mean comments, people who tried to balance their teaching lot with trying to do research while there was more and more meetings and committees, students who want to get good grades for nothing.
The whole life in academia is another Vanity fair (like many things in life).
But it can still be a very satisfying one, all the same, so I've heard (I really amn't in the mood for standing up for the academic life at the moment, but someone has to!) |
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martle
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« Reply #561 on: 22:20:51, 29-11-2007 » |
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But it can still be a very satisfying one, all the same, so I've heard (I really amn't in the mood for standing up for the academic life at the moment, but someone has to!)
I will. Just. t-p, you're absolutely right about all the rubbish that's crept into 'acadmia' in recent years. I'm an 'academic', in the sense that I'm emplyed to teach and research by a university. And yes, the amount of monitoring, auditing, bullshitty initiatives rooted in the ever-expanding ranks of middle management etc. is truly deplorable. BUT: it's still, just, a place where you can explore and create, experiment and teach to some (not all) who'd like to share in those acitivities; and when students do want to learn, and share, and reach beyond themselves, and you can help, and they can help you, it's rather fine. The other problem, of course, is that they increasingly don't want to, it seems. Higher Education seems to me, thanks to successive governments' policies, to be increasingly about providing opportunities for gainful employment rather than intellectual or creative growth for its own sake (which, as anyone with any nouse can see, is the same thing with value added). |
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Green. Always green.
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Baz
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« Reply #562 on: 23:45:45, 29-11-2007 » |
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But it can still be a very satisfying one, all the same, so I've heard (I really amn't in the mood for standing up for the academic life at the moment, but someone has to!)
I will. Just. t-p, you're absolutely right about all the rubbish that's crept into 'acadmia' in recent years. I'm an 'academic', in the sense that I'm emplyed to teach and research by a university. And yes, the amount of monitoring, auditing, bullshitty initiatives rooted in the ever-expanding ranks of middle management etc. is truly deplorable. BUT: it's still, just, a place where you can explore and create, experiment and teach to some (not all) who'd like to share in those acitivities; and when students do want to learn, and share, and reach beyond themselves, and you can help, and they can help you, it's rather fine. The other problem, of course, is that they increasingly don't want to, it seems. Higher Education seems to me, thanks to successive governments' policies, to be increasingly about providing opportunities for gainful employment rather than intellectual or creative growth for its own sake (which, as anyone with any nouse can see, is the same thing with value added). In 1980 I gave my first-year tutorial group a musical handout, and asked if anyone could please tell me what the second chord of bar 3 was. Up went the hands, and the one I pointed to said the following: "That, Sir, is a dominant-7th chord in root position". I commended him. BUT............. In 1996 I handed out a similar musical document to a supposedly similar first-year tutorial group, and asked the same question. There was stupified silence! I pressed, and pushed SOMEONE to come up with an answer - what was the chord? A single voice came from the back row: "What chord is that, mate?" These days, it is not at all unusual to find university Music students unable actually to read either the treble or bass clef (it depends upon which instrument they have learnt!). No wonder universities these days are so infected by "quality assurance mechanisms", "learning outcomes", "assessment criteria", "added value quotients" and all other such paraphernalia. How else could they be required to show that (like Stalin) they can make order out of chaos rather than (like Mr Bean) chaos out of order? Baz  P.S. I thank the acting Leader of the Lib-Dems for that one! |
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« Last Edit: 23:48:26, 29-11-2007 by Baz »
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A
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« Reply #563 on: 23:57:44, 29-11-2007 » |
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The problem comes far lower down in the education system Baz, GCSE no longer has primary triads in any inversion ( whatever that is - they say!!) on the syllabus.
I taught normal harmony for my own satisfaction to my GCSE and A level students but it was not actually required.
Mind you, I was also reprimanded for teaching notation to juniors for the same reason... not on the syllabus.... how can anyone learn music without learning the language first... how can you break all the rules if you don't know what they are in the first place?
A
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Well, there you are.
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martle
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« Reply #564 on: 13:04:47, 08-01-2008 » |
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So my petite, wouldn't hurt a fly, soundless, tail-less, pretty beyond belief cat has been scratched by the johnny-come-lately ginger tom from up the road. Mind you, not before she pelted him one in return.  It seemed only a minor scratch, on her right front paw, but now it's infected and I rushed her to the vet this morning who gave her a shot of ABs and a four day course of pills. The heart-wrenching thing is she keeps hobbling to the catflap and trying to get out to duff him up some more. No miaows (she's part Manx, I think, and Manxes are famously silent), just stoic big-eyed brave gazes as she sits, exhausted and in pain, trying to keep cheerful for me. What breed of psychiatrist should I be seeking? (For me, dammit, for me.) |
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Green. Always green.
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Morticia
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« Reply #565 on: 13:27:54, 08-01-2008 » |
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The ginger sod! That`s no way to treat a lady. Grrrr. Those ABS will soon kick in and she`ll be prancing around the place, Mart. I know that people who don`t have animals look on in bafflement when us owners fret and worry when our beasts are unwell, but it`s REAL worry!! We care about the little buglers  I really hope she gets better very soon Mart  P.S. Do you want me to come over and sort him out? |
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Sydney Grew
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« Reply #566 on: 13:39:38, 08-01-2008 » |
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I saw too many distaught people in academia, people whose paper was rejected with mean comments, people who tried to balance their teaching lot with trying to do research while there was more and more meetings and committees, students who want to get good grades for nothing.
The whole life in academia is another Vanity fair (like many things in life). Thank you (belatedly) for confirming us in our opinion of the whole bazaar, Madame Pianist. (Our own papers used to be rejected as "turgid" and that can be very dispiriting.) |
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George Garnett
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« Reply #567 on: 13:42:32, 08-01-2008 » |
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So my petite, wouldn't hurt a fly, soundless, tail-less, pretty beyond belief cat has been scratched by the johnny-come-lately ginger tom from up the road. Mind you, not before she pelted him one in return. Oh dear, my sympathies to both Miss Pussicat and her owner. I do know that 'being brave for you' look, at least in dogs, and it is unbearable. I'm still just a tiny bit puzzled however by the time-line of events as described. |
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martle
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« Reply #568 on: 14:14:59, 08-01-2008 » |
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I'm still just a tiny bit puzzled however by the time-line of events as described.
George, Two days ago: the scrap, the scratch Yesterday: first noticeable signs of pain Today: severe limping and onset of brave kitty eyes, vet, pills, 'nesting' under dining table; and just now, mad dash out (on three legs) to hunt the ginger bastard down. (The cat, not me.) I'm meant to be working but keep rushing to the window to see where she is. |
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Green. Always green.
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George Garnett
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« Reply #569 on: 14:45:25, 08-01-2008 » |
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Thank you, martle. It was more the bit about the Ginger Bastard scratching her... "not before she pelted him one in return" ...that had thrown me. But, on reflection, it would be quite wrong of me to question a lady's right to launch a pre-emptive retaliatory strike. But I am sorry. Poor thing. Hope the antibiotics are doing their stuff. |
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« Last Edit: 14:51:04, 08-01-2008 by George Garnett »
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