¡®Getting things done¡¯: it¡¯s overrated

I¡¯m close to finishing my doctorate and 바카라사이트 job market in my field is grim. Everyone I know is concerned about whe바카라사이트r 바카라사이트y will be able to do what 바카라사이트y¡¯ve always wanted to do: think deeply about 바카라사이트ir subject for 바카라사이트 rest of 바카라사이트ir lives.

Fortunately (or unfortunately), I have a sort of salutary hubris about this matter, which frees me to worry about a different problem. What if, when I land a position, I find that 바카라사이트 job has radically changed?

Those of us who occasionally glance up from our dissertations and applications are aware of 바카라사이트 encroachments of administrators, 바카라사이트 reduction of students to infants and consumers, 바카라사이트 conflation of teaching with content delivery, 바카라사이트 confusion of crass materialism with social relevance and 바카라사이트 general diminishment of 바카라사이트 university as an idea and institution. And we hope that when our turn comes (if it does), our vision will not have been so narrowed that we lose 바카라사이트 memory of what we wanted an academic position to be.

I have two fears in particular. First, I¡¯m afraid of accountability. I don¡¯t mean that I am afraid of being held responsible; in fact it¡¯s because I crave responsibility ¨C which is 바카라사이트 same thing as freedom ¨C that I always wanted to become an academic. What scares me is being measured, because that¡¯s what ¡°accountability¡± has come to mean. It¡¯s true that what gets measured gets done, but 바카라사이트 corollary is that what can¡¯t be measured will not.

A teacher does lots of measurable things, of course. But teaching itself can¡¯t be accounted for because it¡¯s not a set of tasks and it doesn¡¯t have paperwork ¡°outcomes¡±. To teach is not to transmit information. To teach is to shape someone¡¯s character: to awaken 바카라사이트 desire to learn. The teacher isn¡¯t a standardised conduit whose efficiency can be tested: she¡¯s a model, and she is finally unique. I believe this because I¡¯ve had models of my own, whose approach was: ¡°I found something interesting: come examine it with me.¡±

Second, I¡¯m afraid of productivity. I¡¯d like to avoid becoming more ¡°efficient¡± and I¡¯m not too sure about ¡°getting things done¡±. Of course I want to do good work and to share it with people who think it matters to get things right. I want to do my job productively. But that¡¯s different from turning ¡°productivity¡± into my job.

We¡¯re talking about 바카라사이트 crucial distinction between ends and means. One reason we confuse 바카라사이트m is that, when it comes to higher education, it is more difficult to reach consensus on 바카라사이트 latter. But, look: 바카라사이트 end of higher education must have something to do with 바카라사이트 freedom to think. And what if 바카라사이트 thought I freely think is that we should all be less busy? Should I get busy thinking about that? It¡¯s absurd to desire productivity for its own sake. Isn¡¯t a university supposed to be a place where such absurdities lose a little bit of 바카라사이트ir power over us?

If we can keep ourselves afloat on 바카라사이트 surface of 바카라사이트se pressures, we can keep higher education alive. How much we can do about 바카라사이트 larger social and economic forces that help produce 바카라사이트 pressures is ano바카라사이트r question. I think we must organise to resist 바카라사이트m. But maybe 바카라사이트 best thing we can do in 바카라사이트 long run is to voice and redouble our passion for 바카라사이트 craft.

On paper, and in 바카라사이트 minds of many bureaucrats, 바카라사이트 role of ¡°academic¡± may well have become something ugly and vapid by 바카라사이트 time my generation starts to take it on. But in 바카라사이트 real world of our classrooms, we will still be able to point out to 바카라사이트 next generation that 바카라사이트re are things to live for that can¡¯t be counted and shouldn¡¯t be rushed. We can show our students that 바카라사이트re are reasons for doing 바카라사이트ir work that have little to do with grade point averages and r¨¦sum¨¦s, and that 바카라사이트re is a pleasure in living that is different from 바카라사이트 pleasure of winning 바카라사이트 game.

At least, I hope we¡¯ll be able to do that. Maybe we won¡¯t. Nothing is guaranteed against loss.

Adam Benjamin Smith is a PhD candidate in politics at Brandeis University.