more with the waking up

I am not going to be an academic. I haven't applied for any academic jobs, my state is undergoing severe budget cuts which means academic jobs that I'd want are pretty scarce here anyway, and I'm very placebound. I'm beginning to start to say goodbye to the life I've lived for the past seven years.

I relish the academic blogs on my blogroll, empathize with the trials and tribulations of teaching, of administrivia, of budget cuts, of feeling like there's never quite enough of quantity X to make things the way they should be. But the thing I'm going to miss the most, and the thing that doesn't get much talked about in spite of the fact that it's the only thing worth putting up with all the other crap, is the mental autonomy.

In my brief foray back into the world of work that is my future in some form, that's the glaring absence that I've noticed most of all. The ability to work on the fruits of one's own brain labor is practically nonexistent in the corporate world. If you're lucky, you get to work on problems that need a solution which only your specifically trained bran can provide, but that's not the same thing as only working on the problems that you think are interesting. I never quite realized that it was that specific thing that was missing back when I worked before, and I know I didn't always feel it when I was taking classes, but that freedom of exploration is what's taken me so long to get here, and in spite of how problematic it has sometimes been, is going to play a much smaller role in my future life. I wish I'd appreciated it more, and earlier.

posted by: schoolsmelt at 05:30 | link | comments (2) |

Comments:

#1  25 April 2006 - 06:40

 

Mental autonomy. No doubt. I often say that what I like about being an academic is that, for me, it's less humiliating than the other things I've done for money. But the autonomy issue gets even closer to the differences between academic and non-academic jobs. At least, the ones I've (and it seems you've) had ...

Mo'nonymous

#2  26 April 2006 - 05:15

 

Yes! This is the absolute best and most unique thing about the academic job. I am constantly baffled by academics who bitch about being "so busy"...??? Of course you are, everyone holding a job is busy and doing more work than ever before. But as an academic you are often doing work you chose to do and are interested in doing, and not too many people are standing over your shoulder telling you how to do it. Academics should be thanking their version of god/gods every single day for the lucky opportunity they have to do this job! (okay - IMHO, anyway!)

I am so sorry to hear you are leaving - the rest of the world is okay too, but this is a nice place to hang around! :)

Mo'nonymous

Comments: