It seems that in very many lecture courses there are Power Point slides with a bulleted list of points from the textbook that the professor reads aloud, without explaining. Exams are multiple choice and come from the test bank of the textbook. You can tell the test bank you want fifty medium-hard questions and it … More Revelation
The answer to this question is easy. If they say research is not part of your job description it is not too bad. You can do research as your hobby and even keep a lot of it off the version of your vita you give them. If they say research is part of your job … More How do academics get alienated from their work?
I keep insisting, and I am sure I am right, that you in fact learned how to do academic work if you have a degree from anything like a reputable institution, and that you got it from the program itself. Where else do you get advice? This is the submerged question, since much of the … More Coda on advice and its sources I
The right to desire to aspire to feel inspired is a human right I am surely the first to articulate, but that I have not invented since it is eternal. These are the main pieces of academic advice I have received: – Do not think you will get a job – Obey to get tenure – … More Coda on the right to desire to aspire to feel inspired
Z: Did you enjoy Madison? Person from Houston: Yes, but it was really hard. Z: How so? Is it really as cutthroat as one sometimes hears? Person from Houston: No. It was that I had to learn how not to defer to men. You are not expected to do that there, and doing it does … More Another dialogue, another fact
Person: This is like being in Mexico in the 1820s. Z (laughs): Perhaps it is really about 1830 (if this is Mexico). There has been a post-Independence civil struggle. Only the winning leaders were not killed. Of the peons and civilians, I am the only one left standing, although I am wounded. All the other … More A dialogue, and one fact
Here is an interesting post, on which I of course have interesting comments. Now the question is, how do these voices get installed in one? I always liked school because it was, precisely, not attempting to install such voices. Some of the academic jobs I have had, or some whitemen in them, have made mighty … More On evil inner voices
“Go anywhere.” Not quite. Z to colleagues: Well, despite a request and funding from upper administration, I may not get my course release. It feels like discrimination, or inappropriate interference: do you think it is about me personally, or about our subfield, or something else, or am I being “overly sensitive”? Colleague 1: Our subfield. … More Bad advice #2, and good advice #1 and #2
It is the topic of this blog, really: I am trying to de-Reeducate myself which means mentor myself, and my education was good but Reeducation was, essentially, bad mentoring. There is this to talk about in my case but it is not all. And yet I am tired of talking. I think I just had … More More on mentoring
Jedi Mind Tricks for Faculty Productivity, #10. I love it. This is Reply #10: My morning routine: While my computer boots up I – Read one journal article (20 min) Proof the current article I am working on (10 min) Check and revise outline for the current project. (5 min) When that is done – … More Reply #10
coldhearted scientist وداد 