Why People Don’t Like Academics
As an academic, I sometimes wondered why people don’t like academics.
It took a while, but it’s finally sinking in.
I’m an academic myself, but I don’t feel very academic. That’s why, even though I’m a university lecturer, I feel distanced.
It started when I was in grad school. I went back to get my master’s and having taught at a community college, thought my instructors might have some tips or interesting stories.
Instead, when I mentioned my teaching experience in class, they looked at me like I had three heads.
Well, excuuuuuuuuuuuse me!
People don’t like academics for various reasons; several million think they are indoctrinating students to become liberal, academics have students study things that aren’t relevant, academics are grossly overpaid and don’t really teach.
I get it. I really do.
What bothers me about academics is the false liberalism that comes off as hypocritical. And the obliviousness.
I can’t think of another profession that offers the amount of vacation days teaching does. And yes, you K-12 slaves, I know that on your “off” days you’re doing something. Grading papers, prepping, and so on. I do it too.
But I was talking with someone who was complaining about the May Day (a.k.a. Labor Day holiday) in China. We usually get five days off. But makeup days are usually scheduled. The weekend before the holiday, we usually have to work at least a Saturday or Sunday. The weekend AFTER the holiday, we have another weekend makeup day.
American Labor Day consists of one day. And most people have to work it.
When I pointed this out, Mr. Professor was genuinely confused. He claimed he hadn’t worked a non-academic job since he was 26 (and it showed) so he didn’t know what the vacation situation for non-academics was like.
I told him, “come on.”
He was still baffled.
And yes, this person is a teacher. And he’s been in China for several years, not five weeks. He should know the drill by now.
Academics are in their own little world and think everyone has the same amount of vacation days they do. As someone who also worked retail while maintaining a tenuous foothold in academia, for ten years I had the pleasure of working Thanksgiving Day weekend in some capacity. I never had a real, honest-to-God Thanksgiving holiday until I quit my retail job ten days before Thanksgiving, 2018.
Academics, for all their degrees, have zero common sense. They can be woefully naïve about things, then when you point it out, they storm off in a huff.
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Americans don’t get a lot of vacation days. In the developed world, they probably get the least amount of vacation days.
That’s why when I got two months off (albeit unpaid) in the summer, it was bliss.
Not having a lot of money wasn’t fun, but I had one of the best summers in my life in 2023.
Oh — I got another month off in late January and most of February too. That was bliss as well.
Not even American academics get that kind of schedule. But some of them find ways to get time off.
I remember taking a class in grad school. When I figured out the number of class meetings, I realized the instructor was taking at least a month’s worth of classes in order to grade our final projects. So instead of 16 weeks of instruction, I was getting 12 weeks, but charged the full amount. I didn’t complain to anyone, because I wanted my damn diploma.
And when I tried explaining my proposed thesis project, I wrote the recommended 12–15 page manifesto outlining what I wanted to do. I’d written a novel, got some interest from agents, and decided I’d choose that as my thesis project.
The thesis director didn’t understand.
She also said she wasn’t about to read an entire novel. So we settled on 125 pages. Then, she complained to me the pacing of my story wasn’t right. Uh, didn’t you say you didn’t want to read an entire novel? You want me to scrunch the entire plot into 125 pages? Sorry, that’s not going to happen.
I showed up for class, contributed, got stuff turned in on time. I even won an award for a research paper I wrote on Karla Homolka and Paul Bernardo, the “Ken and Barbie Murderers” from the 1990s. I won $1000.
I had plans for that money. I was going to celebrate my graduation and my birthday with a trip to one of my favorite places on earth, Cedar Point.
So when I got a check for $10, I was surprised. A chat with one of my classmates said if you were getting student aid in the form of student loans, they would take your award check and give you a pittance. She herself had won an award and received a check for $7.50.
The icing on the cake was when none of my instructors would write recommendation letters for me for a job that I really wanted. Indeed, some of them were baffled. “Well, what do you want me to SAY?” Was one response. Oh, I don’t know. How I showed up for class and that I did my work and contributed to the discussion. You know, shit like that.
But no, I stumbled off into the sunset, having to search for another job because none of my instructors would throw me a bone.
Because I found it’s not about doing a good job. It’s about kissing the professor’s asses. Even your sexual orientation can be enough to seal your academic career’s death sentence.
The son of a friend somehow offended one of his professors, who apparently didn’t like the fact this young man was bisexual. He needed to take a class from that professor, and because that professor didn’t like him, and no one else taught the class, he was screwed. He was in grad school, but dropped out. Apparently he’s making bank now, probably more than if he stayed to get his master’s degree.
Good for him.
But this sort of snobby treatment doesn’t bode well for colleges and the professors who live in a dream world, censoring speech and fostering a “you’d better agree with me or else” mentality.
No one likes a bully.
Especially if they have a bunch of letters behind their name.
