February 24, 2006

EH - 74 : University

Hot topic: Inside Higher Ed - what about tenure? (kudos to Ali for the tip) I like Science Professor's comments. I am so pissed off by the tenure process that i would never ever apply for a university position. Teaching part-time at a community college to supplement salary in a rural community has allowed me to develop my own interests, that are much deeper because i have had the freedom to somewhat self-support. But anybody who shuts it off because they now have access to the freedom to leisure, has missed the point and stifled the opportunity to really pursue their interest. Tenure is academic freedom to learn about things that nobody else knows, but it is politically governed to the point of quenching science in favor of group-think. Stupid group think at that.

Money is now the only issue - before it had never has been a significant factor. In 1995, when the rules changed and tenured faculty could garner industry support - the have and have-nots changed, as did the entire motivation for the endeavor. Any individual who values their work at a level that retains their interest would never think of abandoning it when they get tenure - unless the work they were doing was of no significance and this was their sole chance to abandon it. One cannot start a new science career without returning to fresh learning. But we are no longer in the brain development stage where we have that capacity - so might as well apply to other things.

Right now - university science people are so heavily vested in their careers and funding, that a hypothesis can't afford to be significantly different from the money driven world. And the PTB will take on anybody not toeing the pc line - cold fusion was pre-1995 and look at what happened by going outside standard channels. now ... michael chricton writes science, and the people believe.

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