http://chronicle.com/article/Younger-Professors-Say-a/64475/
Here is a link to the pdf for the study:
http://isites.harvard.edu/fs/docs/icb.topic436591.files/COACHE_Study_NewChallengesNewPriorities_20100304.pdf
Following the short summary of the report to be published came a series of comments posted online. While some defended and elaborated on the sentiment of the study. "ESMACKIE" writes:
"I am glad to see that the young ones are speaking up! In my twenty-five years in the academy I have observed an unsustainable inflation of expectations for "productivity" in the Humanities. I think we have reached the upper limits of demands--especially for publications--from junior faculty. While institutions demand ever more books and articles and job offers for the granting of tenure, the academic publishing industry and academic jo market shrink. I am very pleased to see a turn towards quality over quantity!"
Others lambasted the academic Gen-Xers interviewed as spoiled and naive. Here is one comment from "" that catches the sentiment of this sort of response:
"As a newer faculty member, I believe that effort produces desired outcomes, from creating quality classes and being better able to serve the students, the department, and the University, through the process of implementing a plan of research and producing scholarly publications. Yes, this effort takes the investment of (our) time: it takes time to develop...as a teacher, as an employee, and as a scholar. But, isn't success in our chosen field supposed to be our goal?
So I believe that anyone who chooses this career path MUST be willing to do whatever it takes to achieve those desired outcomes, whatever they may be...and if that means putting in those long hours, then that's what must be done."
Or a response like this that really gets to the upside of being competitive for not only personal gain but the nation. According to this poster we need to not only work longer hours for the sake of our careers but for the sake of the nation: "22000394" writes,
"I remember the op-ed several years ago in the Washington Post wondering whether the US would accept its decline with as much grace as had Britain. As someone from the sciences, I know there are plenty of talented, hungry, eager, faculty prospects to be hired; there just aren't that many who are US and have those characteristics. And when the undergraduates complain about accents, I point out that the complaints should be directed to their older brothers and sisters and cousins who were too fat, sassy, and lazy to go on to graduate school. We can choose as a nation not to work so hard, but we have to accept that our competitors may make a different decision."
or
"boo-hoo Gen X. Grow up."
Seems to me that there does need to be more serious consideration of the questions at hand. Does more hours of effort produce a better product? Is there a culture of academic expectation inflation at work to which the Gen-Xers are reacting?
