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My friend, Glenn Reynolds over at Instapundit, says:"ACADEMIA'S LACK OF RESPECT chases out another mind." Glenn always starts his posts off in caps. It saves him the trouble of a title for his posts. So, you follow his link to Becky's The Valkyrie of Discarded Thought. You can tell some things about a blogger from her blogroll. I want you to notice that wedged right there in between the sainted Invisible Adjunct and the scandalous Wonkette on Becky's blogroll is something she calls The Nerdy History News Network. Now, you just click on that link and see where it takes you. Can't a girl get some kinda respect around here? That's Glenn Reynolds' brotha you're dissing, Becky!
Anyway, I read Becky's story. After ditching her plans to do a doctorate in history at Arizona State University, she's doing a terminal M. A. and kissing academe good-bye. Glenn is too much of a gentleman about this one and I imagine that her department is ready to tell her not to let the door knob hit her . . . on the way out. Becky wears on her sleeve the facts that she's conservative, white, wealthy, and bi-polar. Carried right there along with your Louis Vitton bag, Becky, those are heavy burdens to bear; but you make them burdens to those around you. So, your department chairman didn't think you needed an office with a window? My dear, you are a graduate student. Who said you deserved an office? You want to have babies? Fine. Other people do it with or without a doctorate. You want to capitalize on being attractive in the"real world". It shouldn't count for or against you in academe.
Becky's taking a fairly heavy beating in comments by other people on her blog and I shouldn't add to her burdens. But I read a lot of blogs. I've read hers. The Valkyrie of Discarded Thought was dropped from Cliopatria's History Blogroll for some of the good reasons Becky shouldn't pursue a doctorate in history. Run back through her blog's archives since 1 January 2004. There's simply no evidence of a passionate love of history. There's no evidence of a curious mind. If Becky had those things, she might blog something like Caleb McDaniel's Notes Toward a Philosophy of Teaching at Mode for Caleb. Becky's Valkyrie has plenty of evidence of a superficial self-preoccupation that has no business being in graduate school. Becky, you're taking up a slot that somebody else -- maybe even another white conservative -- deserves to occupy. I'm sorry about your bi-polar disorder. Get out of graduate school. Enjoy your beauty, your superficial values, and your wealth.
. . . but people who think they are really attractive and say as much and then use it as part of their reasoning for why they are not wanted in grad school (so wait, the academy is so progressive that attractive people are discriminated against? Huh . . .) probably ought to be REALLY attractive. I'm just sayin' is all . . .
dc
Chris Levesque -
12/9/2004
I'd say that I wouldn't qualify for the upper-middle bracker, myself - my Dad was in the Air Force for almost 23 years, with over half of that time as enlisted, and my Mom worked office jobs. I'm not sure where that really puts us on the socio-economic scale, but it certainly wasn't wealthy.
My focus so far is Ancient History & (mostly modern) Military History. I think it would be interesting to see a study comparing social background to subject areas, but I'm not really sure what use it would be afterward.
David Lion Salmanson -
12/9/2004
Becky,
I come from privilege, so I understand what you are getting at. But let's face it, there were those of us who were raised proper and those of us who weren't. And the Versace wearing, "I couldn't turn in my paper on time because I spent the weekend in Paris" were failed by their parents who never taught them that one can't buy respect, one earns it. Too many students I've dealt with over the years treated me like dirt because they assumed I did not have the same financial resources they did (or more often their parents did). This breeds resentment or amusement depending on your status.
Another piece of this is the old New England understatement. I had a professor in college who sometimes referred to his cottage on the beach. To hear him tell it, you'd bet it was a three room cape cod with an outdoor shower. I recently discovered the cottage was a huge mansion (it was profiled in a major magazine) on a private island.
Another example, in college, I thought I was the only kid not on financial aid. Turns out half the campus paid the full and rather substantial sticker price. But nobody talks about not having to fill out financial aid forms.
Another piece of this is being on the secondary campus in your state. U of A is the big brother ASU the red-headed step-child. In many states, the school cultures maintained narratives that once were true that no longer are. U of Michigan once was only priviliged kids while MSU once was primarily working class. This is not the case any longer but the campuses still use the same put downs about spoiled brats and safety schools. The USC UCLA rivalry plays this out big time.
I am not exactly sure how ASU gets away with offering a PhD but that is a different issue. I couldn't even figure out who would be your thesis advisor.
Finally, there is the whole mental illness issue. Many faculties are still woefully uneducated about mental illness and tend to equate any forms of depression or depressive episodes as laziness. Quite frankly, I never really understood bi-polar disorder until a relative went off her meds due to a medical condition that required a drug that caused interactions with her meds and all hell broke lose. I am surprised you did not contact your school's ombudsman (or student services) about getting accomodation under ADA. Maybe you did and just didn't write about it.
Enjoy South Bend (if that is possible)
Julie A Hofmann -
12/9/2004
Well -- father a fireman (disabled when I was about 9 and living 500 miles away), single mom a postal worker. Uncles the only members of the family who went to college. Ancient-Medieval institutional/social history -- with lots of Tudor-Stuart and Reformation thrown in for fun.
Jonathan Dresner -
12/8/2004
Umm... I'm not real sure about your premise. Yes, being wealthy helps immensely; going to a school that is wealthy is a pretty good proxy, however, because it can keep you alive. My impression is that the vast majority of graduate students I knew had middle-class/professional class backgrounds (lots of professors' sons and daughters) and were heavily dependent on loans and teaching assistantships.
It would be terribly interesting to see if the various subfields of history attracted different socio-economic groups....
Jonathan Rees -
12/8/2004
Graduate school isn't exactly a high-paying job in this day and age. Graduate school, therefore, has to be self-selecting because you have to be relatively wealthy already to be able to lose potential income in prime earning years.
Do you think grad students everywhere are afraid to admit they're rich because of the discrimination they'll face or do you think, perhaps, that they don't see that as part of their identity?
JR
Ralph E. Luker -
12/8/2004
Having shared the burdens of being white, I can appreciate just how difficult that is. I've not experienced the pain of wealth, so I am glad to be educated about that.
Really, Claire and Becky, this is pathetic. Must we all have our own class of grievance? Isn't it healthier just to recognize that being wealthy and white, to have been reasonably well educated in the most privileged society ever in human history makes the complaints ring hollow?
Becky Zak -
12/8/2004
Darling, you're missing my point entirely. When I broached the subject of accomadations with the authority in my department, I really could not anticipate how he would respond to my request. I had not seen the blueprints for the new building our department was moving into, and so I was unable to ascertain whether or not the TA offices would have windows, as they had in our last building. If some offices did and others did not, I wanted to be sure that I would be placed in an office with a window. However, the impotent and insulting response of the person I spoke with incensed me. If merely taking a walk would cure mental illness, I'm sure we'd see a lot more people walking! His response belittled my problem and represents yet another form of silent discrimination within the academy. And that was my point. Discrimination doesn't always manifest itself in obvious ways and certain types of discrimination are widely accepted.
To answer your question about the office/lightbox, I am a conservative but I'm not stupid. The system is the way it is and if other people can benefit from it, I should also. I pay into the system so yeah, I should be eligible for the benefits.
Of course, one reality to be cognizant of is that while I do have money, I also have the expendible income of any other grad student. My money is invested in my home, in bonds, in a trust that I do not have access to yet. I just can't pull a lightbox out of my arse. The university, however, has an enormous population and it is reasonable to assume that there are or will be other graduate students with similar problems who will require similar accomadations. Once you buy the goods, you have them to give to others in need.
However, it is unreasonable and unfair to suggest that because I have money, I should buy myself a lightbox while another student without equal resources deserves to have the lightbox given to them. We both contribute to the system and we both deserve the benefits it has to offer.
Anyway, if this discussion does nothing else, I hope it has encouraged you to think about the preconceived attitudes you may have about people who are wealthy or white or female, or God forbid, all three.
Claire George -
12/8/2004
You can't deny that many people in countries like Britain and America are prejudiced against wealthy white privately educated kids. I can easily imagine the kind of hurtful bitchy comments that Becky has heard about her social group. I can imagine that it must be a sore point. So it's not surprising that she writes about it in a way that may not be well considered. (I haven't read her so I don't know)
Claire George -
12/8/2004
You can't deny that many people in countries like Britain and America are prejudiced against wealthy white privately educated kids. I can easily imagine the kind of hurtful bitchy comments that Becky has heard about her social group. I can imagine that it must be a sore point. So it's not surprising that she writes about it in a way that may not be well considered. (I haven't read her so I don't know)
Julie A Hofmann -
12/8/2004
I don't think I mentioned her financial circumstances once. That said, yes, there is less sympathy for someone who is admittedly financially well-off and white and who, more importantly, comes across as being more concerned with people perhaps treating her less fairly for being so than she is with the very real discrimination that many less fortunate and less white people face every day.
On this, my point was that some of her unfair treatment sounded more like a lack of sympathy than actual discrimination. Measured against the advantages that we Anglos tend to experience as a rule and take for granted every day, Becky is probably doing all right.
My greater point was that there are many things that contribute to a successful life as an academic and, judging by what's on Becky's site, she doesn't sound all that collegial. On the grand scale of things, she's got a scary condition that shouldn't be minimalized, but she's presumably able to afford the health care she needs -- another advantage and a damned good thing. She has a fiance who leaps to defend her -- possibly when he's supposed to be doing his own schoolwork -- as well as defenders from her own and future families. She seems to be able to quit the program without it ruining her future -- again, something less possible for people who have a greater financial stake in finishing the PhD. All in all, she's doing a lot better than a lot of people.
Ralph E. Luker -
12/7/2004
Brendan, One of the problems with what gets described as conservatism in the contemporary world is that it fails to distinguish between conservative and self-indulgent. If Becky is wealthy and a conservative, she might want to ask herself why the taxpayers of the state of Arizona owe her both an office with a window and a lightbox; or either an office with a window or a lightbox. Isn't this what gets described as welfare for the rich?
Becky Zak -
12/7/2004
I'm sorry if you were offended by the reference in my blogroll link to this blog as nerdy! I've embraced by inner nerd and so, to me, calling someone or something nerdy isn't an insult. :)
Honestly, when I wrote my post, I was anticipating my typical audiene of about 10 readers, all of who know me and posess some degree of insight into my actions. Glenn's link pushed my readership to nearly 10,000, and obviously, if I had predicted such traffic, I would have articulated my angst a bit differently.
Is my department happy to see me go? I'm not sure. I'm sure some professors are, although I'd wager that most don't really care one way or another. I'm sure there are two or three who are sad that I'm leaving.
It's been a very difficult decision for me to leave my program. While other issues, like the strain of a long distance relationship, were central to my ultimate choice to leave, the departmental atmosphere also contributed to my decision.
I have been very happy with some of my courses. I'm going to a dinner party at a professor's home tonight and I couldn't be more thrilled because she is as kind as she is brilliant. Believe me, I'm not a freakish misfit. I understand how to play the academe game, I just don't think I should have to do so.
I feel bad for ASU because I'm intelligent and I'm a damn hard worker. I don't expect the red carpet, but I demand to be treated with integrity and respect.
I do agree with Brendan. I think you might have missed the forest for the trees. Keep your eyes open for examples of anti-wealth, anti-white prejudice in your departments and I guarantee that you will see it. Whether it's professor telling you that she left Princeton because entitled, snobby rich kids in BMWs honked their horns at her or it's a graduate student complaining about how a student--who obviously must be rich and therefore arrogant and disrespectful--treated her like a slave while poor students practically worship her because they are SO grateful to even be at school, you might begin to see what I'm talking about.
And although some of my commenters have disagreed with me, the number who have agreed should betray the ugly reality that my point has touched a nerve.
Anyway. To respond to a separate issue, I think I do have an inquisitive mind, although its resources have been absorbed with my thesis and maintaining a tenuous hold of my sanity during a year of medication adjustments. My blog is as quirky as I am and it may not be a good fit with your blog roll. That's okay. But believe me, from the implications of SpongeBob Squarepants to the nature of gears on the Mars rover, I'm always thinking about something.
Oh, and one final thought. I don't want anyone to worship me for dealing with bipolar disorder. Being bipolar is a part of who I am and I cope with it and celebrate it. I very rarely tell people in a professional capacity about being bipolar and when I do mention it, I expect a response more understanding than, "well, you could take a walk to clear your head." In fact, such responses are the reason I rarely bring up being bipolar unless and until it prevents me from being able to do something that I otherwise would be able to do.
Anyway. Sorry to rant on your message board! :) Thanks for thinking about what I said. :)
Brendan Loomer Loy -
12/7/2004
Thanks.
Brendan Loomer Loy -
12/7/2004
*character, not characters
Brendan Loomer Loy -
12/7/2004
Of course all you have to judge Becky on is her writings -- which is why you should critique her writings and not her characters. That's why I objected to Ralph essentially calling her a superficial, self-worshipping, beauty-and-wealth-obsessed brat. He simply doesn't know enough about her to say those things.
It continues to amaze me how so many folks out there are totally missing Becky's point. You say, "Everybody has to deal with some kind of garbage -- get over it." Yet in a way, that's basically the exact point she was trying to make: everybody, whether white or black, rich or poor, whatever, has to deal with some kind of garbage, and certain types of garbage shouldn't be elevated to exalted status (e.g. "ooooh look at all the obstacles these poor minorities have overcome") while others are treated as just nothing, or less than nothing (e.g., the attitude that if you're white and privileged, you obviously have never had to deal with an obstacle in your life, and what's more, you are somehow responsible for the obstalces that others have to face).
So many people are focusing on tangential aspects of what Becky wrote and jumping from there to the conclusion that she's a whiny bitch, when in fact, the main thrust of her argument -- for anyone with a sufficiently open mind to actually pay attention -- was that prejudice against any social class is wrong, and should be treated as such. And how does the blogosphere respond? By saying "how dare you complain about ANYTHING, you rich bitch"? Y'all are just proving her point...
Julie A Hofmann -
12/7/2004
get over it. And before the worshipful Brendan comes over to kick my butt, I think Ralph deserves an apology. Since all we can know about Becky is what she writes, we can only judge her on that. It's nice that people will jump in and defend her, but frankly, I think that throwing blanket accusations against an entire department is fairly indefensible. Moreover, it's Becky's own inability to convince her audience that is her own worst enemy.
What I see is not discrimination against someone for being mentally ill or conservative, but a department's refusal to kowtow to someone who seems not to have done any of her homework about acceptable norms and behavior for her chosen profession (I base this not just on the current entry but on other entries on both blogs).
For example -- TA-ing. It can be horrendous (overloading the students, paying them little and making them compete against each other for slots, and counting against them if it makes them take longer on the thesis) to very good (part of a multi-year packet with pedagogical training and limits on time spent in the classroom built in). Some TA-ing is necessary for us to get jobs, and it's all some kind of indentured servitude. The indenture we accept -- it is in many ways part of an apprenticeship, and we are the low men on the totem pole. But researching different departments and their requirements is also something we are supposed to do -- if you don't like the way a department uses its grad students, you probably shouldn't go there.
Offices, light boxes, etc. What Ralph said. Becky could probably get disabled student services to help -- the rest of us, faculty or grad students, find that we buy our own damned space heaters, desk lamps, whatever we need (and for those of us in the world of short-day winters, that might mean light boxes, too) out of our own pockets. Office with a window? HA! get used to being put where you are put. In and out of academia, windows. corners, etc., go to the senior people and occasionally people with serous patronage. That's how it is.
Babies? Fine. But don't say we didn't warn you. I can't believe that, with all the information out there on academics with children -- especially women academics with children, that this is an issue. The whole working world is skewed against making it easy for women to have careers and children. It's better than it was, but some areas, notably academe and law, are more behind the times than others. So one's saying it can't be done, but, as with every other work/family decision, it's a trade-off with no easy answers. Most Ph.D. programs will stop the clock for women who want a maternity break. It's never an entirely 'this or that' question, but women who want careers and kids are still seen differently and judged differently. Whining about it not being right or fair doesn't make it better. If you want to do something about it, prove to others it can be done well. Otherwise, stop whingeing. Those of us who deal every day with those decisions and will always second-guess parts of them are tired of listening to it.
Bi-polar? It sucks. I also know that there are plenty of bi-polar students and faculty who take advantage of the ADA and just get on with things. I suggest Becky look beyond herself and her circle of well-meaning enablers and perhaps visit Just Tenured. The woman rocks. She's clear proof that being bipolar, while truly interfering with one's life in profound ways most of us can't really imagine, does not mean that you can't be a good academic. And according to her account, she got through grad school as a bi-polar person without having been diagnosed. I think she's pretty inspirational.
The "They hate me because I'm white, wealthy, and conservative" thing? It's convenient, but could it also be that she's not good at being an academic? By that I don't just mean doing academic work, but not being collegial. I mean, most people complain about opening week activities, silly administrative decisions, and even orientations as a waste of time, as Becky did. But we do it with each other, not from a distance, as if we were somehow different and deserving of something else. In all these kinds of "college culture" events there are lessons to be learned (try to avoid so-and-so's workshops, Professor X can't avoid deconstructing EVERYTHING), and friends and colleagues to be won.
While there are varieties of emphasis in academic culture, nothing Becky has blogged about makes me think that ASU is outside the norm. Every type of work has a corporate culture. Read Anthony Boudain on restaurants, or "Nuts!" the book about Southwest Airlines, or any number of other plentiful resources. Unfortunately, it seems that Becky was unaware of the sacrifices and demands that academic culture places on its members, in exchange for some of the truly wonderful rewards of the job.
Like Ralph, I think ASU and Becky are better off without each other -- for very different reasons.
Ralph E. Luker -
12/7/2004
Mr. Loy, I hope you and Becky live happily ever after.
Brendan Loomer Loy -
12/7/2004
Um, I don't need to review the archives to find evidence of intellectual curiosity or a love of history. She's my FIANCEE. I know a lot more about her than what's on the archives of her blog. Anyway, your argument is still based on the false premise that her blog necessarily reflects a great deal about who she is. For some bloggers, that's the case... me, for instance, because blogging is a very big part of my life. For Becky, not really. She basically blogs about random stuff... when she's in a more intellectual mode, odds are she's writing something for school, or talking on the phone with me about it, or with her parents, whatever... the intellectual stuff doesn't make it on her blog. C. H. L. is exactly correct.
Ralph E. Luker -
12/7/2004
I invite both of you to review the archives for evidence of intellectual curiosity or of a love of history.
C. H.L. George -
12/7/2004
If someone is keeping a blog as a personal diary of course it's going to come across as superficially self-preoccupied. That's what personal blogs are for. If she was doing it on HNN that'd be another matter!
Brendan Loomer Loy -
12/7/2004
My, my, aren't we anxious to jump to unfounded conclusions about people we've never met? Becky's Valkyrie blog has not been a high priority for her, so I would say that its contents are rather random, and may not reflect the extent to which she actually does have "curious mind." I can assure you, however, that she is anything but superficial. She never flaunts her wealth (she doesn't own a Louis Vitton bag; that was an analogy), and while she is very beautiful, she's also the least beauty-obsessed beautiful woman I've ever met. It's one of the reasons I'm marrying her.
As for the rest, you're entitled to your opinions, but it's unfortunate that you feel the need to get personal about it. If I were to come up with a snap judgment about the character of the person who wrote this post, I would probably conclude that he is a haughty, snobbish prick... but I don't presume to know, based on this one post, whether that's actually the case. Neither do you actually know anything about Becky's character.
Oh, and regarding your statement "Becky's taking a fairly heavy beating in comments by other people on her blog," I've been following the comments rather closely, both via Blogger and Haloscan (she has two separate, simultaneous comment systems, due a technical glitch that's my fault), and I'd estimate they're about 50-50. For everyone who comes in and says something negative, somebody else comes in and says something supportive.
By the way, "Nerdy History News Network" was clearly intended as a term of endearment... otherwise she wouldn't have blogrolled it. Do you really consider the term "nerd" to be an insult? Myself, I rejoice in the label!
Ralph E. Luker -
12/7/2004
Nerdy History News Network is _her_ name for Cliopatria -- not for HNN itself. I don't see how a graduate student's taking a terminal M.A. and leaving should count _against_ the department. I think they've reached a good mutual concensus. Surely her graduate student line can be filled with someone else who wants to do significant graduate work in history.
Jonathan Dresner -
12/7/2004
...there's another one?
The sad thing (OK, one sad thing; I've read Valkyrie on rare ocassion, too) is that her departure is going to count against the department when it comes to toting up retention and graduation rates.
