Misplaced blame: Anonymous (posted 6/23, 2:20 p.m., E.D.T.) put forth the comment that because of a 3 year-old child, a search committee member "asked me about my daycare arrangements and then commented that he felt that I could not possibly commit the time or energy required for a tenure position". I have a permanent lectureship similar to US tenured assistant/associate professor, a 3 year-old daughter and 5 year old-son and a wife who is also an academic. From my experience, it would be impossible to 'earn tenure' in an American university and spend the necessary time with my children so I live in Finland. Here in Scandinavia there is a great deal of overlap in male and female roles related to child rearing and I accept that I will not write so much until my children are old enough to not need our (my spouse and my) constant attention. I will have a lot more experience after my kids are grown and my research papers should reflect my maturity. A lot of good research comes from the US but a lot of it clearly reflects the publish or parish mentality. It is often obvious that an author has nothing to say but writes something anyway because of job pressure. Probably the amount of overtime required also takes a toll on paper quality. An education system which requires parents to abandon their kids in order to earn tenure is inherently wrong for both men and women. Does quality really come from overwork? Is equality measured in office size or the willingness of young American male and female academics to neglect their spouses and children or remain single in order to put in the overtime needed to excel in their chosen field?
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