Re: [xmca] Human Sciences Scholar life?

[Wagner Schmit <mcfion@gmail.com>]

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
>> __________________________________________
>> _____
>> xmca mailing list
>> xmca@weber.ucsd.edu
>> http://dss.ucsd.edu/mailman/listinfo/xmca
>>
>
>
__________________________________________
_____
xmca mailing list
xmca@weber.ucsd.edu
http://dss.ucsd.edu/mailman/listinfo/xmca