Professionalism

[Carrol Cox]

I can never remember whether the following tale is an actual medieval
work or a story by Anatole France. but in either case it can introduce
this post. (It's been 50 years or so since I read it so my summary is
rough-&-ready. There was an illiterate juggler who loved the Virgin Mary
& longed to serve her but could not become a clergyman. Late one night
he went to the Cathedral & began to do his juggling act before the
statue of The Virgin -- giving her what he had to give. In the middle of
his performance, a priest entered and immediately began to scold the
juggler for his profane performance. And then the Virgin smiled.

Back in 1967 or 66 there was a conference in Ann Arbor of radicals in
the professions. At one of the plenaries a grad student in econ from
Stony Point posed the following question: Are we radical professionals
or are we radicals who earn our living in a profession? I was not a
Marxist then, though it was a panel led by a young attorney from
Berkeley that set me on the way.) I decided at once that I was _not_ a
radical teacher, but I was a radical who happened to be a teacher.
Compare "radical teacher" and "radical Walmart clerk." "Radical teacher"
clearly carries implications that "radical Walmart clerk" does not. But
"radical who teaches" does catch that flavor.

It is understandable that those who have trained themselves in
literature or sociology or linguistics would long, like the juggler, to
give to the working class what they have to give. But the working class
will not smile. Only professionals who repudiate the basic principles of
their profession can make that profession a service to the class.

Carrol