Here's one way to make an impact:
* The Feral Professor: Tihomir Petrov, 43, a mathematics professor
at California State University Northridge, was charged in January
with misdemeanors for allegedly urinating twice on the office door
of a colleague with whom he had been feuding. (Petrov was
identified by a hidden camera installed after the original puddles
turned up.) Petrov is the author of several scholarly papers, with
titles such as "Rationality of Moduli of Elliptic Fibrations With
Fixed Monodromy." [Los Angeles Daily News-AP, 1-27-2011]
-----Original Message-----
From: xmca-bounces@weber.ucsd.edu [mailto:xmca-
bounces@weber.ucsd.edu] On Behalf Of Wagner Schmit
Sent: Saturday, March 26, 2011 5:32 PM
To: lchcmike@gmail.com
Cc: eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity
Subject: Re: [xmca] Human Sciences Scholar life?
Another video, this time "Simpsons" view of Grad Students
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XViCOAu6UC0&NR=1
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XViCOAu6UC0&NR=1>Wagner
On Sat, Mar 26, 2011 at 6:29 PM, Wagner Schmit <mcfion@gmail.com>
wrote:
I'm a freshman in academic life... pursuing a PhD and already
working as
temporary teacher at University and College. The only thing that
makes me
still pursue an academic life is that i try to make my students
think about
the impact of their work in other peoples lifes, and that, i hope, my
research will bring something that may help people in their school
life...
But it is hard, no time to read, no time to write (the coordinator
of our
research group always says "you need to publish"), all "free" time
i have is
dedicated to prepare classes and supervision of trainees. No
weekend,
no holiday, no vacation and a very low payment (my students in the
private
college i work have a better income than me).
But what worries me most: who really reads what we publish? I see
ideas in
the educational field pointed as "innovation", but they were already
presented by people like Dewey and Vygotsky decades ago... One of my
students, after a meeting with pedagogues of a high school, pointed
out that
"all we listen and see is just common sense, where are the
application of
all those researches you pointed? where are the educational
theories?"
I point out that one of the works of Psychologists in School (since
i give
classes to future psychologists) is to rethink school along side
with the
school community (teachers, administration, parents, students)...
This helps
articulate science and real life, but only in a punctual way (in
the daily
life in school)...
What about academic life? what can we do to change it? Or, should
it be
changed? Where are the academic debates, innovation and
contribution to
society?
Those things make me sleepless sometimes
Wagner Luiz Schmit
Londrina State University - Brazil
On Sat, Mar 26, 2011 at 5:45 PM, mike cole <lchcmike@gmail.com>
wrote:
I think all of us recognize this scene, Wagner.
At LCHC we are discussing these issues. "We" includes grad students,
post-docs,
old people like me. We are lucky that the interpersonal alienation
at LCHC
is lower than that depicted (although it is in abundant profusion
among
those around us). But difficulties for grad students contemplating
making a
living in academia are pretty grim, especially outside of the
presumably
"non-ideological" areas of science and technology (where a
different set of
alienating circumstances are plentiful).
We have no great revelations but we are grateful that we have
adopted an
intellectual stance that makes the study of human life in cultural
practices
our grounding. we are trying to work that into an implementable
strategy for
surviving graduate school and gaining acceptable employment.
What are others doing? What more might we be doing collectively?
mike
On Sat, Mar 26, 2011 at 11:06 AM, Wagner Schmit <mcfion@gmail.com>
wrote:
Hello,
I wanted commentaries on this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obTNwPJvOI8&feature=player_embedded#at
=201
Wagner
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