Three truths about academic privilege (or why we can’t count on academic elites to fix higher education).
Lately, I’ve had a chance to visit with faculty at the peak & at the base of the academic pyramid.
Having spent most of my career in the middle, I was shocked to learn how privileged faculty were at the peak & how tough careers can be at the base.
The faculty at the top seemed blissfully unaware that:
* many faculty members do not receive summer support aka pay during the summer months.
* faculty at all levels do not have research budgets aka money to buy data or travel.
* many faculty lack access to industry aka mentors or uni’s capable of opening doors for research.
Beyond resources, the privileged faculty did not seem to:
* feel a social obligation to pursue truth aka with privilege comes responsibility OR
* have any interest in address bad research.
The last two points surprised me.
One scholar from the peak lambasted a paper as problematic. I asked them if they were going to address it.
The response?
‘Why would I?’
The faculty at the base lacked such privilege. They:
* taught summer school.
* taught more in the regular year.
* missed conferences bc they lacked research budgets.
One emoted his desire to do work that helped people. The other commented on how much he enjoyed his hour or two of research that week.
Notably, the folks at the peak seem indifferent to the opportunities afforded by their rich world & those at the base kept working despite living in a profoundly constrained world.
These conversations taught me three truths.
(1) the difference between academic elites and the rest of us is resources.
Whatever lingering doubts I had about my ability went away after those chats.
Faculty at the peak & the base are just about as smart as each other.
Faculty at the peak simply have more access to income & data than the base.
It’s a pity. Many faculty at the base could flourish if given a chance to do a little more.
(2) many faculty at American schools at the peak are tone deaf.
To be clear.
I will never reach an elite school.
I am not smooth enough.
I am too outspoken.
I feel a vocation to work with the kids of everyday citizens.
I love working at Temple.
We aren’t the base - but we aren’t the peak - it’s where I fit.
I am not complaining.
I am disappointed.
I have had faculty at peak schools tell me that the problems at the base are not theirs if they exist at all.
I have had one endowed chair tell me that faculty at the base have the right jobs given their skills & training.
I am disgusted.
(3) faculty at the middle and the base will have to lead change.
With privilege comes an obligation to lead.
Yet, faculty at the peak have failed to lead, they are happy in their ivory towers.
It will take action at the grassroots to make academe stronger, more connected to the world & better able to train leaders capable of changing the world.
We can do this if we work together.
Let’s build a better academy.
Comments