Re: How to get into Scientific Programming

"Baruch Vainas" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> "William" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
news:<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>...
>
> OK, my choice of the word "equivalent" wasn't the best one. It was
> meant to say, how your "often find themselves not teaching" relates,
> or using your own terminology, "addresses", my  "will be asked to do
> some more teaching". How on earth it refutes it? You just say
> something different to what I say, WITHOUT JUSTIFYING why my
> statement, according to what you say is, supposedly, wrong. That isn't
> refutation, it is just pontification.

Your statement is wrong because a professor who doesn't do research,
and doesn't publish, may find that the University will no longer allow them
to teach. They will not be assigned classes, they will not have access to
rooms or staff. They may not even get paid (tenure is some protection, but
it's not absolute - some professors have kept the title but lost the
stipend,
some have lost it all). As I said, in Israel (and other places) this may not
be
the case, but I stressed this referred to the U.S. where it can happen.

I will say it rarely happens to professors who are well known - it's
bad PR to muck with them. And the paying customers want to attend
their classes.

On the other hand, a professor who is not doing research or publishing
regularly is not much of a draw. He's not a "profit center" for the
University, so why spend any more money on him than you have to?

>
> I know very well what publish or perish is (unjustified patronizing
> tone again, I note), William.

It wasn't patronizing. Several messages back you claimed ignorance
of the U.S. (in fact, you stressed it). I honestly don't know which
phrases or cliches you're familiar with (and you certainly didn't seem
to get the implication of that one).

> Your, unjustified, marginalization argument is based on erroneously
> pressuposing lack of teaching.

When there are published accounts of it, and incidents have been
related to me, I tend to err toward that presupposition (if there
isn't something oxymoronic about presupposing an existing state of
affairs). Apparently you're lucky in that you've never encountered it.
Not sure I would have made the generalization based on that, but
there you go.

I will say it's been about thirty years since I was that optimistic
about acadamia, so I think I'll let the matter rest. (And there was
much rejoicing!) -Wm