Tuesday, April 03, 2007

The Academic World (my tiny bit!)

I just read a recent article in the Chronicle of Higher Education concerning the validity of tenure in today's academic world. There are many opinions regarding the need to either retain or discard tenure, either viewing it as an inherently good thing professors strive for as one of the awards for excellence in teaching and research or bad in that some instructors use tenure as a means to "slack off" in these areas. For some reason, the conventional notion one has about teaching both in secondary and higher education is that instructors work very hard when they are young so they do not have to do so if and when they obtain tenure and that tenure is a "safety net" that prevents bad teachers from being fired. As a tenured full professor, I know that I currently do as much or more than I did while moving up in rank. I would not lose my job were it not for tenure. I have colleagues who have taught for decades but have never chosen to pursue it at all. I do, however, believe that the awarding of tenure is an acknowledgement of my value to the institution even though there is no monetary gain from said award. I also believe that tenure is a plus on any one's CV or resume' should he or she seek employment elsewhere since it speaks to the professionalism, loyalty and worthiness of the candidate. If I were to enter the job market tomorrow, the earning of tenure both at my current institution and my previous one would certainly help me to obtain employment elsewhere.

Ok, enough about tenure. I have come to the realization that while I am pretty good at what I do, there are plenty of my contemporaries who much, much more brilliant than me. These are the folks who get the acclaim, publish the big, golden books and get lots of citations for their work. All of this is a good thing, because these folks work hard to get ahead. But what is really important is that as I slog away at teaching the latest batch of possible doctors, nurses, pharmacists and future grad students, I really am doing something important. Yes, I've added my small contribution to the annals of research and yes, I have and do give many public talks and lectures to raise public awareness and interest in science. I probably won't give intellectual birth to the next Einstein, Watson, Crick or E. O. Wilson. But maybe, just maybe a few of those brave souls who dared stick with me in my classes to the end will do something great, like save a life or two or be in on the next great anti-cancer drug. If so, then I am not a tiny grain of sand on a vast beach. I am the small rock that, when thrown in the vast ocean at just the right time, with just the right amount of energy, gives rise to a tsunami. And the tsunami changes everything...

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