[lbo-talk] A public square

[Miles Jackson]

joanna wrote:
>   
> All the things you mention are not automatically granted when you 
> publish a book. Publishing just allows you to enter the race.
>
> As for the "community."  I really, really wish that people would stop 
> using this word as a synonym for "profession" or "special interest 
> group." The whole point of "community" is that it is a group of 
> heterogeneous people hold something in common -- possibly something as 
> evanescent as the desire to come together to offer mutual support. It 
> has been hijacked to mean  "any group of people that serves my self 
> interest."  Ugh.
>
> Joanna
>
>   
I know you don't think much of the academic world, but it's a community 
in your sense of the word.  Academics are not "professionals motivated 
by self interest"; to put it simply, they are people who think that 
learning is a good thing, and they are willing to sacrifice a lot for 
that belief.  Most college professors could earn way more money in the 
corporate world than they do in the academic world.  --For instance, I 
think I've mentioned the Nursing instructors at my school who could earn 
twice as much money in private hospitals, but they teach because--they 
love to help people learn.     Sure, not everybody in academe lives up 
to this cultural standard, but for me, that's the defining 
characteristic of the academic community: the irreplaceable value of 
learning and helping others learn.

Miles