Hey guys,
What's new? I'm doing ridiculous loads of work, 'cause--you know--in Academia we can do all sorts of amazing shit with our brains, but we can't quite figure out how to space work evenly over a 15 week semester. 10 weeks of saying, "It'll be different this semester," followed by 5 of doing the work. Amirite?
Anyway, check out this link from the Chronicle of Higher Education if you've got time.
http://chronicle.com/article/How-Secure-Are-US-Professors/135388/
As someone who has taught in a foreign university, specifically one in a less-than-reputable country if we are speaking of political culture, this article tugged at a lot of strings. The article basically argues that itinerant professors should be aware of the potentially repressive atmosphere they are moving into and have an exit plan or parachute strategy in case they get fired for being politically forward thinking awesome Americans.
Hear my sarcasm there? That's string number one. I cannot tell you how many times I had this conversation with American teachers who often met one or more of the following distinguishing criteria of 'enlightenment' and 'America-fuck-yeah-ness':
A. out-and-out refused to even consider possibly attempting to learn the Korean language
B. openly expressed disgust and hatred for Koreans and Korean culture
C. naively wondered why Koreans don't do it the right/American way
D. had such debates while waiting for a girlfriend (usually my interlocutors were hetero males) whose Korean name they couldn't pronounce/refused to use
Etc.
Lest I wander too far into Angry (Self) Righteous Chuck territory, I want to invite Melissa (and others of course) to weigh in on the implications of the problem: do professors working outside their home (academic) culture have a reasonable expectation of the same 'freedoms' they would experience at home, i.e. organizing students to protest local political issues, folding contemporary controversies into their course syllabae, etc.
I tag Melissa specifically because this has recently been a huge issue with Yale's new campus in Singapore. Before the campus even opened, if I got my facts correct, Yale had a showdown with the powers that be in everybody's favorite gum-hating city-state. Yale lost and lost big.
Thoughts?
Kisses,
Chuck
