next »

[spirosdarlotts]

The unfortunate writers of this first person "feels so bad" article are just ripe for some skewering.

Does anyone else think their article was just a whine fest?

[locutus]

You'll have to provide a link to the article.

[mignon]

It's one of the open access ones, but . . .

http://chronicle.com/jobs/news/2008/11/2008111901c.htm

And I agree.  Whine-fest.   

[kedves]

The unfortunate writers of this first person "feels so bad" article are just ripe for some skewering.
Does anyone else think their article was just a whine fest?

You might enjoy this.

[terpsichore]

The unfortunate writers of this first person "feels so bad" article are just ripe for some skewering.

Does anyone else think their article was just a whine fest?

Not me. I think they provide a fairly accurate portrait of what a tenure-track appointment is like for a lot of people once the initial adrenaline rush is gone, and the day-to-day reality of the work sets in, with all its good and bad points. They are starting to look ahead to what it will take to get tenure, and they are trying to make course adjustments that will get them there (carving out time for writing, for example). It all feels pretty realistic.

[systeme_d_]

I'm with the RateYourStudents comment on this one.

[fiona]

I think the columnists are giving an accurate picture of sophomore disillusionment, which happens in school and on any job.

I wonder if the hostile posters on this thread think that they are somehow superior to sophomore slump? And why blame people for putting themselves forward and being honest?

I think the columnists are brave to use their own names.


The Fiona

[svenc]

This year I am serving as a faculty mentor for a freshly-minted junior colleague.  He admitted to me the other day that he had no idea how many meetings he'd be sitting through at this job.

The authors may be indulging in some self-pity and do indeed need to "buck up" if they wish to succeed, but the content of their complaints is still valuable information to some.

[jackofallchem]

I think the columnists are giving an accurate picture of sophomore disillusionment, which happens in school and on any job.

I wonder if the hostile posters on this thread think that they are somehow superior to sophomore slump? And why blame people for putting themselves forward and being honest?

I think the columnists are brave to use their own names.


The Fiona

     Not superior, but we were PAYING ATTENTION when we were in graduate school and doing our postdocs.  We saw all of the committee work, grading, politics, etc that went with the job.  We had no illusion of "basking in the glory" of this job.  We watched people going through the tenure process and it was years of no sleep followed by sheer terror. 

     We also didn't think that we would be spending all of our time creating knowledge and exploring the unknown.  That is what graduate students do.  The job of the professor is to try to get them on the right track and guide them through it.

     It wasn't brave of them to use their own names.  They are so full of themselves that they feel that the world need to know how wronged they have been.  Snowflake professors. They are being honest... about how entitled they feel and how clueless they have been.

[spirosdarlotts]

     It wasn't brave of them to use their own names.  They are so full of themselves that they feel that the world need to know how wronged they have been.  Snowflake professors. They are being honest... about how entitled they feel and how clueless they have been.

Brilliant! Brilliant! Huzzah.

SD

[fiona]

I'm glad the last two posters are not in my department (I hope).

They come across as really mean-spirited and uncollegial, the kinds who'll torment junior faculty just because they can.

Apologies if you're not bullies, but you certainly come across as same.

The Fiona

[doppelganger]

I just find myself wondering: 

1. what on earth their graduate programs were like. 
2. whether or not they actually ever held real jobs or escaped education ever.
3. why the article authors chose to end with the one who talks about the "awful existential freedom of having to be," thus leaving the readers with that piece of self-indulgence as the thought that sticks with us.

Perhaps I'm just jaded because I never had that grad school experience where all I did was sit around and study and talk and revel in some academic wet dream.  Thus, really, when I read things like this article, I do wonder what their programs were like.  Clearly, they were not teaching and going to pointless meetings and working on outside jobs and taking classes and doing exams while living a life.  That much is patently clear, else this whole "wow there's so much to do and none of it is my research" thing would not be novel. 

I really think grad schools need to do a better job of training people so that so many faculty don't have these major revelations while on the TT.  These are lessons better learned elsewhere, when you have time to wallow, self-discover, and develop coping strategies.  If you have to take an extra year in school to learn how to juggle it all, then take that year.  But better there than while the clock is ticking and your research isn't getting done.

[rambling]

As someone who is now in her third year on the TT, I did not find the authors of the article discussed here so self-absorbed or naive. I did teach during grad school (every semester) and moreover I held a non-TT position before my current job, where I taught full time and continued with my research. I did not hold other jobs in grad school besides my graduate student instructorship, (which was all I was allowed to have as an international student), and my non-TT was a full time job, so of course no other jobs there, and I did not have any committee meetings to go to in either case, but does that automatically make me a snowflake? I knew of course that the tenure track would come with many many meetings, many advising sessions, and much much more than what I had been doing till then, but still I found my first two years quite overwhelming.

I do agree with Fiona that some posters here are being a bit too mean. They perhaps do not recall being newbies themselves, or who knows, maybe they were lucky or whatever, and for some reason or another, did not go through these kinds of difficult adjustment periods once they got on the TT. But either way, I think the authors' situation and their feelings are quite common among many junior faculty members, at least in my cohort, and I do not think we are all snowflakes.

[sirrah]

This summer while at a conference I ran into one of my professors from graduate school.  When I mentioned I was getting ready to start my second year, she replied, "Oh, the second year's a killer."  I listened but was thinking there was NO way the second year would be as stressful or challenging as the first.  However, it turns out she was right.  In the second year, everything just counts more, you're expected to do more (when you often felt like you were barely keeping your head above water to begin with).  You can think what you want, but I'm about as far from a snowflake as it gets.  I think the second year is challenging, just in a different way.  That's what I take from the article. 

[jackofallchem]

     I don't see why I'm being mean.  I just annoys me to tears to see people who feel the whole world needs to join their pity party for them when what they are going through is perfectly normal.  I mean, I can understand them whining some to their friends, but to publish it?  These are the same people that whined about how you couldn't live on a graduate student stipend and then went out and blew $200/weekend at the bars. What annoys me about them is that things seem to be going quite well for them, but they think their lives are so terrible.  They are like the people that make $300,000/year, bought a $2 million house, can't afford the payments, and are now expect people to feel sorry for them and bail them out.

   I do remember what it was like by first few years as a faculty member (I'm just post-tenure).  I remember my first year trying to get notes made up for 5 courses that I had never taught before and new University policies (spring semester) that meant that I could never get tenure. I remember moving to another school (where I could get tenure) and finding more new classes and finding there were no records of what had been taught in any of the courses the year before.  I remember the committee work, the student club sponsorship time, the conflict with students vs new professor, fighting the administration for the simplest instructional technology, etc.  I was too busy to spend my time 'basking the in the glow' or pining about how I should be spending my time creating new knowledge.  I realized when I applied for these jobs that professor is not a sinecure position, it is a 60-80 hour/week grind. 
     I paid attention to what a faculty position is like.  When I was in graduate school, my advisor used to pass me as I rode my bike in at 6 AM.  She didn't go home until around midnight.  In her years before tenure, she would often sleep in her office and only go home every 3-4 days.  I remember helping her get ready for a department event.  She stayed up for 4 days straight (and was not really fun to deal with after day 2 may I say).  My postdoc advisor was a little more laid back, but she put in some serious time as well.  Both of them were dedicated to their classes as well as their research groups.  They put in plenty of time preparing for their courses while publishing first rate research. 
     The above reasons are why I was so hard on them.  No, it isn't because I have a dream job and life where everything works perfectly.  Just the opposite.   They are clueless about what this job entails. Yes, you do have to teach and grade.  Yes, there is pointless committee work.  Yes, it takes a lot of your time.  No, it is not secret and you should have figured this out before you chose this career.