{"id":6048,"date":"2015-11-11T09:00:57","date_gmt":"2015-11-11T16:00:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/?p=6048"},"modified":"2015-11-11T08:50:48","modified_gmt":"2015-11-11T15:50:48","slug":"worth-sharing-peter-higgs-i-wouldnt-be-productive-enough-for-todays-academic-system-science-the-guardian","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/2015\/11\/11\/worth-sharing-peter-higgs-i-wouldnt-be-productive-enough-for-todays-academic-system-science-the-guardian\/","title":{"rendered":"Worth Sharing: Peter Higgs: I wouldn&#8217;t be productive enough for today&#8217;s academic system | Science | The Guardian"},"content":{"rendered":"<span class=\"span-reading-time rt-reading-time\" style=\"display: block;\"><span class=\"rt-label rt-prefix\">Approximate Reading Time: <\/span> <span class=\"rt-time\"> &lt; 1<\/span> <span class=\"rt-label rt-postfix\">minute<\/span><\/span><p>I know it&#8217;s a few years old, but this is really worth a read. It is sobering to consider what we have given up with our current capitalistic, competitive academic system. Universities are not businesses and shouldn&#8217;t be run that way. Academia is not a sport. We put far too much emphasis on winning and trying to get to the top of whatever list we have decided is important.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/science\/2013\/dec\/06\/peter-higgs-boson-academic-system?CMP=share_btn_fb\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/static\/sys-images\/Guardian\/About\/General\/2013\/12\/6\/1386350693138\/Peter-Higgs-Today-I-would-011.jpg?w=300&amp;q=85&amp;auto=format&amp;sharp=10&amp;s=16c4d9c22ba804bc75e1789b39204d68\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a>Peter Higgs, the British physicist who gave his name to the Higgs boson, believes no university would employ him in today&#8217;s academic system because he would not be considered &#8220;productive&#8221; enough.<\/p>\n<p>The emeritus professor at Edinburgh University, who says he has never sent an email, browsed the internet or even made a mobile phone call, published fewer than 10 papers after his groundbreaking work, which identified the mechanism by which subatomic material acquires mass, was published in 1964.<\/p>\n<p>He doubts a similar breakthrough could be achieved in today&#8217;s academic culture, because of the expectations on academics to collaborate and keep churning out papers. He said: &#8220;It&#8217;s difficult to imagine how I would ever have enough peace and quiet in the present sort of climate to do what I did in 1964.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Source: <em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/science\/2013\/dec\/06\/peter-higgs-boson-academic-system\">Peter Higgs: I wouldn&#8217;t be productive enough for today&#8217;s academic system | Science | The Guardian<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<div class='wp_likes' id='wp_likes_post-6048'><a class='like' href=\"javascript:wp_likes.like(6048);\" title='Like' ><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/wp-content\/plugins\/wp-likes\/images\/like.png\" alt='' border='0'\/><\/a><span class='text'>1 person likes this post.<\/span><\/p>\n<div class='like' ><a href=\"javascript:wp_likes.like(6048);\">Like<\/a><\/div>\n<div class='unlike' ><a href=\"javascript:wp_likes.unlike(6048);\">Unlike<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><span class=\"span-reading-time rt-reading-time\" style=\"display: block;\"><span class=\"rt-label rt-prefix\">Approximate Reading Time: <\/span> <span class=\"rt-time\"> &lt; 1<\/span> <span class=\"rt-label rt-postfix\">minute<\/span><\/span>I know it&#8217;s a few years old, but this is really worth a read. It is sobering to consider what we have given up with our current capitalistic, competitive academic system. Universities are not businesses and shouldn&#8217;t be run that &hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/2015\/11\/11\/worth-sharing-peter-higgs-i-wouldnt-be-productive-enough-for-todays-academic-system-science-the-guardian\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[3,369,371],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6048","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-academia","category-higher-education","category-research"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4Hsb6-1zy","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4140,"url":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/2014\/07\/29\/academic-assholes-and-the-circle-of-niceness-the-thesis-whisperer\/","url_meta":{"origin":6048,"position":0},"title":"Academic assholes and the circle of niceness | The Thesis Whisperer","author":"Katrin Becker","date":"July 29, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"THIS explains why I got such a hard time in two of the Faculties where I studied and taught at UCalgary. Department Heads, Deans & Associate Deans: once this kind of culture gets started, only those who are assholes can get into administration. Academic assholes and the circle of niceness\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Academia&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Academia","link":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/category\/academia\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.hnetalk.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/adult-bullying1.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":563,"url":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/2010\/04\/14\/becoming-a-university-part-ii\/","url_meta":{"origin":6048,"position":1},"title":"On Becoming a University (Part II)","author":"Katrin Becker","date":"April 14, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Faculty need to make connections beyond the institution. ...Part Two in the series on \"Becoming a University\" In order to make the transition from a college to a university...... It is true that many faculty have connections at the UofC and a few have connections to other institutions in the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Academia&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Academia","link":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/category\/academia\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6461,"url":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/2017\/07\/07\/academic-mobbing-or-how-to-become-campus-tormentors-university-affairs\/","url_meta":{"origin":6048,"position":2},"title":"Academic mobbing, or how to become campus tormentors | University Affairs","author":"Katrin Becker","date":"July 7, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Yup. If anyone wants to know why I gave up a job I had loved for over 20 years (and was VERY good at); why I gave up my tenure, THIS IS WHY. People I thought were my friends, whom I had known for years (decades in some cases) either\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Academia&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Academia","link":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/category\/academia\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/2010-02-16_17-31-50s_wm-300x225.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":7038,"url":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/2018\/09\/07\/worth-sharing-mieke-bal-lets-abolish-the-peer-review-system-media-theory\/","url_meta":{"origin":6048,"position":3},"title":"Worth Sharing: Mieke Bal: Let\u2019s Abolish the Peer-Review System \u2013 Media Theory","author":"Katrin Becker","date":"September 7, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"EXCELLENT article. I have experienced many of these issues myself. As an adjunct and sessional instructor, I am treated as \"less than\" by a great many in the academy - not based on my work, but rather based almost solely on my social \"caste\". Rules rule, overruling people.In this short\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Academia&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Academia","link":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/category\/academia\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5234,"url":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/2015\/08\/05\/worth-sharing-monitoring-who-attends-class-is-pointless-unless-it-counts-towards-students-grades\/","url_meta":{"origin":6048,"position":4},"title":"Worth Sharing: Monitoring who attends class is pointless unless it counts towards students&#8217; grades","author":"Katrin Becker","date":"August 5, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Monitoring who attends class is pointless unless it counts towards students' grades Dana Ruggiero, Bath Spa University University lecturers rarely get 100% of students turn up to every lecture. Nor do we expect them all to. Those who have got up, travelled to campus and made their way to class\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Academia&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Academia","link":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/category\/academia\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"The Conversation","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/counter.theconversation.edu.au\/content\/45173\/count.gif?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":556,"url":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/2010\/04\/13\/on-becoming-a-university-part-i\/","url_meta":{"origin":6048,"position":5},"title":"On Becoming a University (Part I)","author":"Katrin Becker","date":"April 13, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"I've had an interest in Mount Royal for some years. When I was teaching at the U of Calgary I found MRU's transfer students to be hard-working and quite capable. Last year I even taught there as a 'temp' (I had a one year contract). I applied for various positions,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Educational Technology&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Educational Technology","link":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/category\/educational-technology\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6048","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6048"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6048\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6051,"href":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6048\/revisions\/6051"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6048"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6048"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6048"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}