The new term started today, and I have to say that I'm quite annoyed with things. I'm starting to be truly disillusioned with academia. Mind, I've been aware for several years that modern academia is terribly biased, but I've always felt that my desire to teach outweighed that fact. Right now, though, I'm not so sure.
My two main classes this term are in Critical Discourse Analysis and Sociolinguistics. Now, I've been deeply interested in both of these topics (well, maybe not CDA, but discourse analysis in general), and I was excited to take the classes. Until about the last week or so of last term. That was when the CDA teacher taught our mandatory colloquium-like class. Maybe it's just her nationality ... you know, culture-related issues ... but I just can't get over the feeling that she sure thinks a lot of herself and is so excited to teach this course so that she can talk about how brilliant she is and how much she's done, while dropping names every five minutes. But besides all that, it seems that the whole philosophy of CDA is rather "woolly", as Hermione would say (5 points for the right book). It seems to me that it's very much based on intuition and previous bias, which is rather ironic, since it claims as one of its main tenets that the researcher should "question everything". And I get the same feeling about modern sociolinguistics, although I haven't been to that class yet. Now, I suppose that it's always possible to just move away into areas that are more interesting and dealable to me, but I'm disturbed at the trend that seems to taking place in modern academia, this trend toward the touchy-feely disguised as science. And now I'm wondering whether I really want to be pushing against that for the rest of my life. But on the other hand, I currently don't feel like I really have many marketable skills right now. Aargh. I hope I'm able to come to terms with this soon.
Well, on to today's real quote of the day (the last one was just an hors-d'ouevre -- I think that's how you spell it!). This one's worth ... 35 points, I'd say. "The impertinence lies, sir, with those who would seek to influence a man to deny his beliefs!"
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3 comments:
You've expressed very well my normal feelings on the subject. I guess that lately, I just don't know if I want to or can handle that kind of environment for years on end, where I'm surrounded by lots of people who think they're all that, and where I will probably have to tread carefully about some of my personal beliefs and values. I also worry sometimes that I will turn out to be like them (in the sense of being elitist and uber-theoretical).
But thanks for your words of encouragement. I really do believe that this is where I should be (in life, I mean, not just on the earth) and what I should be doing, so unless I get a strong prompting to do otherwise, I plan to continue the course and trust in God's wisdom and strength.
Good job with Hermione's quote -- not that I would have expected any less from you! ;)
Sorry about the stuff at school. Good luck with that.
The last quote, is, I think from Charriots of Fire. Am I right?
No idea about the movie, but the Hermione quote is when she's describing divination in Prisoner of Azkaban.
Kimberly
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