Scuola di Atene or school of Athens is one of the most celebrated institutions in human civilisation. It is of course the school where Socrates taught and developed some of our most fundamental philosophical principles that govern and serve us to this day. Just little ideas like the necessity of doing what one thinks is right even in the face of universal opposition, and the need to pursue knowledge even when opposed J
This is the famous painting by Raphael depicting an environment full of academic endeavour being the best that humanity can offer.
What is the point of the above narrative you may well ask? Where is he going with this??
Well I too now belong to such an environment. The only difference is that mine takes place in somewhat less illustrious environment. A Nissan Civilian mini-bus to be precise. Every morning 30 of us board a 20-seater bus for a 40 minute ride that is more of a stunt-thrill seeker-adventure exhibition of not-so-precision driving. (More to come on this in upcoming posts)
So imagine a crammed-to-the-rafters bus of distinguished and maybe not so distinguished academics debating everything under the sun. Actually you don’t have to imagine. Here is a photo J
There is actually two more rows of seats behind me J
I simply did not realise how competitive academics were until experiencing this “zero-personal-space” situation. If you imagine every second sentence uttered as being “Yes, but I am PhD in so-and-so” whereupon someone will up the bid with “But I have 3 Doctorates and 5 Masters in x” and so on raising to ever higher levels of one-upmanship and absurdity. Finally it was my turn to brag. As all eyes and ears turned to me I smiled and simply said “Oh, I don’t teach. I Do.”. First time I heard the damn bus fall silent J Time for reflection hey!
Unfettered every day they continue their debates but somehow they all seem to end in the same way. “My degree is bigger then yours so I win! There!”
Academia, don’t you just love it J (Sorry sis)
Posted by Jesse from Jill’s login
Posts
Ah so my three degrees pale in comparison...darn...I now have to go back for my PhD :)
ReplyDeleteThis reminds me of when i started reading Dilbert and was like "Dad, do you have to do status reports at work?" to which you replied, "Yes, I tell my boss: Status, Done"
ReplyDeleteIt would seem that you have not lost your penchant for witty one liners!