tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6529647435872563341.post5240497011794332949..comments2023-07-05T06:55:53.577-04:00Comments on College Ready Writing: Bad Female Academic: Not Interested in PassingLee Skallerup Bessette, PhDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12243750156552824701noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6529647435872563341.post-53619754505664629122011-08-09T19:36:56.411-04:002011-08-09T19:36:56.411-04:00I've been thinking (and writing) a lot lately ...I've been thinking (and writing) a lot lately about class and the academy, signaling, social markers, etc. I think the more signaling people do, the more anxious they must be about their status. <br /><br />I think it is good to get to the place where you realize that you could pass, but that it's really not worth your time to worry about it. <br /><br />Collegiality and congeniality are important, but conformity is way overrated.LDhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09742066809468902814noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6529647435872563341.post-2662414145052147752011-08-08T09:29:20.691-04:002011-08-08T09:29:20.691-04:00Fascinating. Your experience is different from min...Fascinating. Your experience is different from mine, and that is instructive and thought-provoking. For me, I never ever fit in anywhere ever in my life until my PhD. I was the weirdo oddball goth teetotaller nerd and I was pretty used to be ostracized.<br /><br />But now, as a prof, I fit in. I mean, really fit in. I wear the right clothes and say the right things and cultivate the right tastes and live in the right neighbourhood and publish in the right places*. And I'll tell you what: I really like fitting in, and that feels like selling out, for sure. God, it's nice to be comfortable in these daily and structural ways. I don't want to go back to fighting everyone all the time, I don't.<br /><br />Isn't that awful? I feel like a sellout.<br /><br />---<br />* I'm still intellectually rebellious, and am sort of known for my strong idealism and unwillingness to go along with some stuff on campus and such. So at least there's that. But it's all collegial, finally.Aimée Morrison (digiwonk)https://www.blogger.com/profile/08694893688132592039noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6529647435872563341.post-32557967525820135272011-08-07T20:25:28.124-04:002011-08-07T20:25:28.124-04:00Good post. Good topic. I think some people can do ...Good post. Good topic. I think some people can do the "passing" thing without loss of integrity and others have to compromise on that front. For example, my spouse is incredibly skilled at fitting into all sorts of social situations and is always welcomed as "one of us." But he is a very strong personality and remains squarely his intense self, no matter where he is. And me? I suck horribly at the "passing" game. Attempts to "pass" in graduate school sucked hard in an undignified sort of way. Hell, I even changed my appearance fairly radically in order to become the Ivory Towerrette. I worked to please certain people, to quote from the right books and that sort of thing. Argh, horrible to recall it now.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6529647435872563341.post-42107750912126258362011-08-07T11:07:14.325-04:002011-08-07T11:07:14.325-04:00I was a theater geek in high school but there was ...I was a theater geek in high school but there was very little mean-girl-ing, thank goodness. All of my trauma is firmly located in grad school and beyond. <br /><br />Funny thing is, I was so incredulous at "the rules," it took me a long time to accept that, yes, indeed, I was being judged for (e.g.) watching TV. Since I didn't even know what was going on at first, then when I did, I just thought, "screw you!" I think I never had a great shot of "passing"...and I never got to the point where I felt financially secure, so I didn't feel much class difference in that regard.<br /><br />Still, I often feel stuck in the middle...too much "deep thinking" for the comfort many people, but not classy enough to hang out with the literati. It's an odd position, but like you, I've gotten to the point where I'm not interested in making other people feel better about themselves at my own expense. <br /><br />But, to me, being yourself is still anathema to academic culture. It's good for the students, I agree, but in all honestly I'd tell someone that they could expect to be passed over for promotion, not renewed etc., if they don't play along -- this is where I get in lots of fights, no one wants to admit it but until we freaking acknowledge the problem, how are we going to fix it? But the more people do admit it, and are willing to take the chance anyway, the more likely it is that the culture will change.WorstProfEverhttp://www.worstprofessorever.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6529647435872563341.post-74008469594781874552011-08-07T10:36:34.271-04:002011-08-07T10:36:34.271-04:00Hmmm.
I've changed socio-economics across my ...Hmmm.<br /><br />I've changed socio-economics across my lifetime. (Too poor to have enough food when I was little to having a house and nice cars and spending money.) <br /><br />I also just recently changed socio-economic schools. From very poor inner city CC to small town $$$ SLAC.<br /><br />What is passing when you are in those positions? I have taken advantage of my change in socio-economic status to try and inspire my CC kids. I guess I will do the same to try to open the eyes of my more wealthy students now.<br /><br />There is a difference in culture as well as money in those levels, I think. Expectations certainly differ.Dr. Davishttp://www.teachingcollegeenglish.comnoreply@blogger.com