You Are Burned Out? How Cute.
I recently participated in a symposium on writing and pedagogy at my grad school. I attended there more than ten years ago, so lots of us have gone on to do lots of things, but more than a handful of us in attendance went into higher ed. I, too, was a professor for a number of years, but since I didn’t complete my PhD, I got out of the teaching gig a number of years ago. I’m glad I did, because working in the tech sector is more lucrative, and I think more exciting.
I really enjoy my job, so this essay is in no way reflective of burnout in and of itself, but I will be talking about some careers where burnout is high- one of which is that arena of higher ed. The ivory tower has taken a few hits in recent years, for good reason. It’s not so shiny up in that tower, for starters. The R-1, or research level universities, like the one where I studied and taught, are brutal when it comes to “publish or perish.”
The speakers at this symposium had all studied with one quite noteworthy professor, one who had built her career on the theory that writing well is not a “gift” or a “talent,” but that it can indeed be taught, that it is a skill to be acquired. Her career was long and impressive, and I was thrilled to learn from her. She was retiring after having left a substantial mark on the lives of countless students across the field.
