It's a funny thing trying to decide whether or not to apply to a particular job post. Last year it was like, "Anything with the word 'Japanese' in it, I'm applying!" but this year it's like, "OK OK, no need to be so voracious here." Like, like...
There are jobs that I clearly can't apply to (not my field, not my time period, etc.), and then there are jobs where I'm like...is this a job I want over the one I have now? And would I want to apply (ever) to jobs in particular geographic locations, when I know that my heart belongs in sunny California?
And what of the question of research vs. teaching? Why the valorization of research institutions over teaching institutions, when I'd much rather be in the classroom teaching than in my office writing? Or am I spoiled even to have such a preference?
I think research institutions (and research, in general) is valorized over teaching institutions (and teaching, in general) because the media and society at large fawn over numbers, over money, over superstars. It's the Teacher-Executive problem, in a different form: http://michaelochurch.wordpress.com/2013/11/03/software-engineer-salaries-arent-inflated-at-least-not-for-the-99/ In a sense, I think teaching is more important, and its person-to-person consequences are more impactful, longer-lasting, than the majority of research results, but, again, there are those famous researchers and Nobel Prize or Pulitzer Prize winners that garner a lot of societal attention, and even one huge research result can bring a university decades of renown. The impact of such a finding is also much easier to track, quantify (in $$$), and the media attention much more extreme than, say, an extremely good teacher who has reached a large number of students. I think it's the scale of the superstar researcher, and the attention and money that he or she brings the institution, that causes such a valorization. This is just my opinion, but I personally hold my teachers in higher regard for being good teachers, and not for their research results, because I know how important good teachers are to the fabric of life. It's just too bad that society - or rather, the media - prefers to cover the executive (in the above-article's language).
ReplyDeleteIndeed...it's so complicated! But I guess we all have things we enjoy doing, or are better or, or are important to us...!
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