academic life – From Under the Fig Tree

By now, I don’t suppose there are many people in the world who would liken the groves of academe to an earthly paradise. Too much has been written of late about tensions between faculty and university administrators, student ennui and diminishing resources to hold up the academic enterprise as a paragon of civility.

Alice in Wonderland — Alice trying to play croquet with a Flamingo/Wikipedia

The steady advance of hybrid courses and of MOOCs has compounded matters even more. From coast to coast, discussions about their integration into the curriculum have become increasingly heated, throwing just about everyone -– their advocates, their detractors and those in the middle -- into a tizzy. You need only pick up an issue -- any issue -- of The Chronicle of Higher Education or, for that matter, The New York Times, to see the extent to which tempers have frayed.

Fear of change and the prospect of an uncertain future fuel much of this. But so, too, does the very nature of academic life where, all too often, petty politics rules the roost and decidedly uncollegial behavior is the coin of the realm.

When it comes to accounting for the distinctive culture that is academe, theories abound. Some draw on social psychology, others on economics and still others on history. They clarify matters up to a point.

What’s most helpful, I think, is to summon up thoughts of Alice in Wonderland. Her trip down the rabbit hole has nothing on academic life, whose dizzying, disorienting twists and turns make Alice’s experiences look like a walk in the park.

Over spring break, while GW students sought out sun and surf, I, too, contemplated the prospect of taking a brief respite by sleeping in, eating out and going to the movies.

Despite the best of intentions, I managed to see only one film – Joseph Cedar’s, Oscar-nominated Footnote – which turned out to be the cinematic equivalent of a busman’s holiday.

Situated within the physical and emotional landscape of the scholarly life, Footnote casts a sharp and knowing eye on the tools of the trade, from the microfiche reader that burns the retina to the barbs that singe the spirit. And everywhere, books, books and more books, whose presence is at once comforting and menacing.

At the same time, the film also movingly conveys the passions and, yes, the joy that scholars derive from their work, even if no one seems to notice. Tending the groves of academe, we come to understand, is a high stakes enterprise.

Little wonder, then, that Footnote has received deservedly lavish praise from the critics. A dark comedy of manners and a domestic drama rolled into one, the film is a must-see.

Bring your favorite professor along for the ride.

Tag: academic life

Slings and arrows

Academic Politics