Cindy Hale (chale at SAGE.NRRI.UMN.EDU) wrote
:: I am completely sick of hearing (reading) all the whining that goes on
: about "poor us" having to try to manuever around this shark pond of egos
: and politics. Well, you chose it! If you are in pursuit of knowledge and
: truely interested in what you are doing then who cares what others think!
: BUT, if you are in pursuit of academic credentials and a "good" job then,
: welcome to the game.
While I agree that people should take responsibility for their
choices, I think that scientists should be using a broader viewpoint
in looking at the consequences of our choices. When we choose to 'go
along to get along', as Cindy seems to be suggesting, we perpetuate
the stupid idea that science is so *holy* that anyone who wants to
succeed in it should put in 60-80 hours a week, put off having a
meaningful family life (one of my teachers was told to put off having
children until she had tenure, because she couldn't raise kids and
publish enough!), and otherwise kowtow to an unreasonable set of
expectations.
If some of the most highly educated people in the country, who for
the most part have tenure, cannot drum up enough guts to demand
reasonable work expectations, I must agree with Cindy that we have
no right to complain. The non-tenured, unemployed scientists facing
the prospect of working under the conditions that those of us *with
institutional power* have collaborated in creating *do* have a right
to whine. They have a right to do a lot more than whine, and I hope
they're ingenious and determined enough to do it!
I should admit, though, that I work at a teaching institution with
no publish-or-perish policy, so I am not speaking from any deep
personal experience with the system.
Pat Bowne
