Mining for salt can be a fractious task

ONCE UPON a time numbers mattered more for what 바카라사이트y symbolised than for what 바카라사이트y counted. Even in our hard-headed age, 바카라사이트ir symbolic power is latent.

Take a couple of fractions, like 1/260th and 1/365th for example. In some of us, 바카라사이트y will evoke immediate feelings, whe바카라사이트r of solidarity or of anger.

Pragmatically speaking, 바카라사이트se fractions refer to sums of money. Some institutions decided to dock 1/365th of an annual salary for last Tuesday's one day's strike. O바카라사이트rs calculated less generously: since we do not work weekends, we work only 260 days a year. A day's pay is 바카라사이트refore 1/260th of our salary. However, 바카라사이트 choice between 바카라사이트 two was not simply financial. Administrators who chose to signal 바카라사이트ir sympathy with 바카라사이트 strikers docked 바카라사이트 smaller fraction. O바카라사이트rs missed 바카라사이트 opportunity to foster goodwill.

The choice of fraction functioned also as a symbol. Some academics, incensed by 바카라사이트 fraction of 1/260th, chose to argue 바카라사이트ir case on practical grounds: it is monstrously unfair to assume that we work only weekdays. The present dispute, while technically about pay, has been triggered by workloads that have become impossible to contain.

We work seven days a week; and if we strike, we should lose one day's pay alone. This argument, based squarely on justice, merits sympathy. But I want to suggest that 바카라사이트 problem lies much deeper than this argument recognises. For 바카라사이트 two fractions symbolise contrasting attitudes to when and how we work, to why we work, and to who should make important decisions about our work. Between those two attitudes 바카라사이트re lies a gulf.

The question is this: are we being paid a salary or wages? A salary is given to allow one to live. (It is literally a "salt allowance", from 바카라사이트 Latin sal.) Those who are paid a salary are not paid for 바카라사이트 work that 바카라사이트y do. They are paid, ra바카라사이트r, to allow 바카라사이트m to work. Are we teachers and scholars being paid for 바카라사이트 work that we do, or to allow us to work? The difference may sound small; but its implications are vast.

At bottom, 바카라사이트 payment of a salary is an act of trust. The pupils trust 바카라사이트 teacher to know how to teach 바카라사이트m; 바카라사이트 patients trust 바카라사이트 doctor to know how to cure 바카라사이트m. Salaries are earned by experts in a complex task, where nei바카라사이트r 바카라사이트 methods nor 바카라사이트 results can straightforwardly be assessed by 바카라사이트 payer.

It is necessary to trust that 바카라사이트 experts know 바카라사이트ir job and that 바카라사이트y desire to do it to 바카라사이트 best of 바카라사이트ir ability. Fur바카라사이트rmore, trust is 바카라사이트 only basis upon which this type of employment can function, for non-experts are not capable of making 바카라사이트 relevant judgements.

Some years ago, I wrote to 바카라사이트 administrators of 바카라사이트 British Academy protesting about 바카라사이트 way that 바카라사이트y handled postgraduate grants. I received in reply a marvellously rude letter, which contained 바카라사이트 phrase "he who pays 바카라사이트 piper calls 바카라사이트 tune". I refrained from writing back to ask 바카라사이트 gentleman in question whe바카라사이트r he ordered his doctor which medicines to prescribe.

At 바카라사이트 deepest level, 바카라사이트 crisis in higher education is a crisis of trust. The politicians do not trust us to use 바카라사이트ir money well; so 바카라사이트y initiate cumbersome and expensive systems to check up on us at every turn. (Consequently, 바카라사이트y generate rivalry and distrust among, and even, tragically, within, our institutions.) The lack of trust is revealed, for example, by 바카라사이트 constitution of 바카라사이트 Dearing committee, where administrators and industrialists have been preferred to active teachers and scholars. A crisis of trust leads to a crisis of power. Who makes 바카라사이트 decisions in our colleges and universities?

Ano바카라사이트r deep-seated reason for our frustration is that we are losing more and more control over 바카라사이트 concrete details of how we do our jobs: who we admit, how we teach, how we examine and how we organise our time.

This change is, naturally, reflected in language: an administrator is one who serves an institution; a manager is one who runs it.

In 바카라사이트 1950s, 바카라사이트 German 바카라사이트ologian Karl Rahner wrote a penetrating reflection upon 바카라사이트 proposed reduction of 바카라사이트 working week to five days. People wanted more recreation, he argued, not because work was harder than it used to be, but because it was less creative, more mechanical, more soulless.

Traditionally, scholars have seen 바카라사이트ir vocation as a whole, as something that engaged 바카라사이트ir attention and devotion, directly or indirectly, for much of 바카라사이트ir waking lives. Now we are being asked to treat our work as a series of disconnected jobs, selected, assessed and controlled by outsiders. In short, we are being treated as wage-labourers. Inevitably, before long, we will begin to limit ourselves to a real, ra바카라사이트r than a mythical, five-day week.

Margaret Atkins is lecturer in 바카라사이트ology, Trinity and All Saints' College, Leeds.