This piece touched my heart in a special way, I thank you for writing it, Helen. As the majority of my students (back in Brazil and in the US, where I teach in a public, state institution), I am also a first gen, my family was not even blue collar (my parents always supported the house selling homemade food in school cantinas, and later my mom specialized in home made chocolates). Reading your text helped me to make more sense of the successive burnouts I’ve suffered since 2018, of my decision to leave a tenured job and become a yoga instructor. It also made me think once more about how many (and much) of the things we do to diversify academia are like bandaids. I really appreciate your thoughts and willingness to bring attention to these topics.
Helen, this mirrors my experience quite precisely, although my father was a fallen middle class retailer, and died at 58 (when I was 11). I am the first person in my family to graduate from high school, go to university, graduate with honours, get a masters and get a doctorate. But I did it too late, because education was not prized in my family, and did not finish my studies for a quarter century (while working full-time). Despite my skill set and being a very good teacher by all accounts, I was not employed permanently in part due to coming from a distant land, in part from being too old, and in part from doing something the academy had no real use for. And I studied and researched every spare moment of my waking time. I think I have burnt out at least four times.
I applied for over 450 academic jobs after my postdocs finished, all over the world. I got not one interview, even from a position I was invited to apply for. Academe has become monocultural, and hates any kind of deviance or unconformity. This, not coincidentally, is contemporary with creeping managerialism of higher education around the world. I was born in the wrong century...
I am so sorry academia is so ageist. Your work is wonderful. My spouse is in the same situation as you and he also had difficulties finding an academic position. When he finally had something not tenure track we moved out of the UK!
I'm from a white, middle-class background, and yet the portrait of your dad is so familiar... is there a real geist of dadness that inhabits people who take on that role? The hobbies, the fish... this is a lovely post.
This piece touched my heart in a special way, I thank you for writing it, Helen. As the majority of my students (back in Brazil and in the US, where I teach in a public, state institution), I am also a first gen, my family was not even blue collar (my parents always supported the house selling homemade food in school cantinas, and later my mom specialized in home made chocolates). Reading your text helped me to make more sense of the successive burnouts I’ve suffered since 2018, of my decision to leave a tenured job and become a yoga instructor. It also made me think once more about how many (and much) of the things we do to diversify academia are like bandaids. I really appreciate your thoughts and willingness to bring attention to these topics.
Helen, this mirrors my experience quite precisely, although my father was a fallen middle class retailer, and died at 58 (when I was 11). I am the first person in my family to graduate from high school, go to university, graduate with honours, get a masters and get a doctorate. But I did it too late, because education was not prized in my family, and did not finish my studies for a quarter century (while working full-time). Despite my skill set and being a very good teacher by all accounts, I was not employed permanently in part due to coming from a distant land, in part from being too old, and in part from doing something the academy had no real use for. And I studied and researched every spare moment of my waking time. I think I have burnt out at least four times.
I applied for over 450 academic jobs after my postdocs finished, all over the world. I got not one interview, even from a position I was invited to apply for. Academe has become monocultural, and hates any kind of deviance or unconformity. This, not coincidentally, is contemporary with creeping managerialism of higher education around the world. I was born in the wrong century...
I am so sorry academia is so ageist. Your work is wonderful. My spouse is in the same situation as you and he also had difficulties finding an academic position. When he finally had something not tenure track we moved out of the UK!
I'm hoping to get the second degree in my family. My daughter got her master's this year and I am working towards my bachelor's.
Yay!! I hope to celebrate it with you!
Thank you!
I'm from a white, middle-class background, and yet the portrait of your dad is so familiar... is there a real geist of dadness that inhabits people who take on that role? The hobbies, the fish... this is a lovely post.
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