Response to Mike Crang -apologies to non-UK people who have no idea what
we are talking about:
I agree on everything, except
> > 1) Bias against young staff and poorly rated Departments in the RAE
>
> is there not a provision for counting young staff as a positive thing
> in and of themselves, certainly extenuating lack of track record?
> Seem to remember mutterings about it in my direction.
I think they still have to have publications, right? Seems to me it will
be pretty difficult to get a job without a good cv in UK in 1999 and 2000.
>
> Does the US not use a system where every blue moon a group of
> eminence grise assemble to decide who they think are any good? Which
> is even worse?
The National Academy here produces an index of the top grad schools,
which caused great consternation last time it was done. Much bickering
about criteria. Everybody through they should have been in the top 10
Geography Grad
Schools list. But *no money* was attached to it at all. VArious other
rankings have been done independently, like the one in the PG 1997.
>
> 4) The *lack of collegiality* this generates, and
> > inter-Departmental competion for scace funding, student numbers,
> > publishing opportunities, and recognition
>
> am I alone in finding a peculiar tone in the way departments talk of
> each other? We are all equal but some more equal than others? And is
> it just this question is a symptom - I try to think of other
> departments in terms of the interesting stuff being done there.
So do I - but we are all chasing the same pot, surely, of money or student
numbers (especially any Dept. that has to go through clearing to get
students)? If some cannot get PhD students, this will intensify a
division. The ex-Polys still seem to struggle.
>
> > 5) the teaching-research linkage and its problematic valuation in
> > 'quality' terms
>
> I think the argument is well made that good research does not
> necessarily mean good teaching. I also think this too often slips
> into the inverse logic; I don't think no research necessarily means
> good teaching either. And what ever happened to the word
> scholarship?
I think it disappeared when they abolished tenure, and average
staff-student ratios went over 14:1.
> 7)
> > unfair peer review practices, (that readers of this may be either
> > side of - dishing it out, or receiving)
>
> Does this really happen? I mean I admit to sudden pangs of envy
> refereeing some beautiful pieces and wishing I could write as well and
> do such interesting work... but apart from inducing
> self-doubt I can't think of sabotaging them. naive maybe.
hope you get an article of mine to review!
I'm afraid it does happen; hopefully rarely. I've received a few myself,
and I believe the Higher had a whole spread on this in mid-Feb (I get my
copy late). Terry's point that if you sign your review, sniping might be
diminished somewhat.
> 8) Potential benefits of the
> > RAE in forcibly internationalising British Geography and its
> > Geographers
>
> Opposite I fear - though I wait to hear from people with more
> direct experience. Answer in two parts
> a) some international opinion counts more than others, other
> countries have as bad or steeper hierarchies of institutions,
> journals etc
If the Transactions fills up in 2001/2001, I am sure an Annals article
would be highly regarded as an alternative! I think there are plenty of
internationally refereed journals (eg Dutch, Norwegian, German and
American/Canadian) that we could do more to publish in. There are also
plenty of overseas grants to go after - this is all I was meaning.
> b) I thought say getting a work translated into spanish since it was
> about Latin America did not count for very much last time. English
> being the language of international science (allegedly) I have a fear
> other languages get read as err provincial. I hope I am wrong but I
> fear the opposite of Simon's one redeeming point
>
You may be playing into the hands of Paul Treanor here!
> 9) The benefits, or not, of speaking up on these issues
> > - rather than remaining silent, at employer level and in the wider
> > academy.
>
> err I have to go through appraisal in err 40 minutes. Shall I toss a
> coin on it? ;-)
>
Nice that you are prepared to go that far (1,000s wouldn't!). Tim Unwin is
open to journal article submissions on these issues, by the way.
I am
thinking partially of my own experience - learning when to shut up as you
get older - but also of our radical peers and mentors that we all know
and admire, but might not be prepared to emulate. As I have mentioned
before, I attended a 'radical' US university before returning to teach for
4 years in the UK, and I found the latter environment to be much more
stifling. Critical geographers think critically about things outside of
their campuses - but are seemingly not able to voice opinions closer to
home, even when one's own employer can ressemble the University of
Poppleton (in-joke)!
Simon
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