Taking Time Off

Why shouldn’t academics act like other workers and take time off during the semester?, Mary Werner, a pseudonymous professor of English at a liberal-arts college in the East, asks in the latest First Person column:

So here’s a radical idea: How about we start splitting up our vacation time, taking some during the summer, when we’re doing research, and some during the academic year, when we’re teaching?

What would happen if we acted like other employees, and other professionals, and just took time off during the semester? We would have to ensure that the work got done in our absence, of course. That would mean different things in different disciplines, but in mine it would probably mean arranging for a guest lecturer or a film or giving a research assignment to be done while I was away, or arranging for extra class time when I returned.

Is it likely that our students would suffer irreparable harm if we took vacation time the way other professions do — in the middle of work that goes on while we’re gone? What happens when doctors take vacations? Their patients don’t stop needing medical help; other doctors cover for them. Are we more indispensable than doctors? Than secretaries?

Share your thoughts.