Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2001/11/26
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]>Guy - I realize that my situation is definitely, and very unfortunatel, >a major exception to the rule, as there are many people out in the real >world who have a lot to give to students, and who would like to spend >part of their career teaching....The real irony, though, is that I have >found that my main journalism credential is far more valuable to me in >academia than it was in the journalism world. In journalism, once you >are at one of the top papers, having won x or y award, etc., will get >you an interview at another top paper, but that's about it...but take >the same credential to academia, and there it gets some respect...pretty >funny, when you think about it... >B. D. And, equally ironically, for many years my degree was much more valuable to me in the professional world - particularly in publishing and translating - than it ever was at the university, where full-time teaching positions were mighty scarce and folks with advance degrees were coming out of the woodworks. Guy > >Guy Bennett wrote: > >>>Guy Bennett wrote: >>> >>>>>Though much of this activity is >>>>> >>>>without significance in the "real world," real world values are meaningless >>>>in the academy: it is a self-validating system that generally does not >>>>recognize non-academic achievement. >>>> >>>Actually, my experience has been precisely the opposite - While I agree >>>entirely that virtually no one in the 'real world' gives a rat's behind >>>about your academic credentials once you get past your first job, I have >>>found that some folks in academia will grant 'equivalence' to certain >>>real-world accomplishments when hiring for positions in academia. At >>>both Harvard Medical School, where I was briefly the Director of Media >>>Affairs and had an academic appointment, and at MIT, where I teach, my >>>credentials in the world of journalism are viewed by academics as being >>>the equivalent of a doctorate in their world. The bottom line, I >>>believe, is that at these particular institutions the academics have >>>enough self-confidence to understand that they know what they know, and >>>that I know what I know, and what I know is as much of value to students >>>as what they know. (Does that make sense:-) ) >>>B. D. >>> >> >> >> It definitely does. And your case is a great example of how the "real >> world" can and should exist within the rarified world of the academy. From >> my experience, however, this is rather exceptional. I've been teaching the >> humanities - languages and literature - at the university level for about >> 14 years now (first at UCLA and various community colleges in the L.A. area >> and, for the last 2-3 years, at Otis College of Art and Design) and have >> never seen anyone with less than a PhD given a teaching appointment in that >> field. Even in community colleges, a full-time teacher in the humanities >> with only a MA is becoming something of an anachronism. >> >> Guy >> -- >> To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html >> >> > > >-- >To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html