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Original poster

To think academics are seriously entitled??

264 replies

Bananavibez · 19/09/2026 14:34

Met a bunch of lecturers at party last night. Dont think ive ever met such an entitled bunch. Nice pay for minimal hours but complaining about how they have to answer loads of emails (??). One of them in their 60s actually admitted they would't meet the qualification requirements for their role if they were applying for it today.
So much bitching and whining and all i could think was "so how come you've stuck with this job for decades then, you could have gone out to work in industry if its so awful"...

OP posts:
shhblackbag · 19/09/2026 16:25

Fgfgfg · 19/09/2026 16:22

They have significantly increased. We never used to hear from parents but so many students now give parents permission to speak on their behalf.
An example is the parent who emailed me demanding that I phone him to explain why we weren't teaching his son how to use public transport.

Show quote history

I had a parent demand that we move the exams so the uni student could join the family on holiday. I wish I was joking.

whymadam · 19/09/2026 16:25

Correct, OP. Big frog in a tiny pond syndrome. The ones like you met stick with the job because it's cushy.

Fgfgfg · 19/09/2026 16:22

LlynTegid · 19/09/2026 15:29

Agree that teaching in a school regardless of level is a lot harder. Especially as at universities there are seldom unrealistic or entitled parents to deal with.

They have significantly increased. We never used to hear from parents but so many students now give parents permission to speak on their behalf.
An example is the parent who emailed me demanding that I phone him to explain why we weren't teaching his son how to use public transport.

Satmod · 19/09/2026 16:18

Duckiewasthefirstniceguy · 19/09/2026 16:16

OP’s comments are a bit…odd. Did this party even happen? Or do you just want to chat (or whinge) about academics?

Oh good shout! I’d not thought about that! A make believe party that @Bananavibez was invited to - just to start off a discussion! Yep, I think you have nailed it

FeralFucker · 19/09/2026 16:18

Envy much?

Duckiewasthefirstniceguy · 19/09/2026 16:16

OP’s comments are a bit…odd. Did this party even happen? Or do you just want to chat (or whinge) about academics?

spiderlight · 19/09/2026 16:14

Minimal hours?! My partner is a senior lecturer, and he regularly works 60-hour weeks and at least half the weekend during term time, not to mention the endless stream of emails, and then has to spend a significant part of the summer on research.

Satmod · 19/09/2026 16:11

aliceyyyy2654 · 19/09/2026 16:11

You sound jealous of their high pay and minimal workload

I doubt @Bananavibez even works

aliceyyyy2654 · 19/09/2026 16:11

You sound jealous of their high pay and minimal workload

shhblackbag · 19/09/2026 16:10

Nice pay for minimal hours
If this is a serious comment, you really have no idea.

shhblackbag · 19/09/2026 16:08

Satmod · 19/09/2026 14:47

Friday drinks with colleagues - totally normal to have a whinge

I wouldn't have survived my years in academia without these!

LongDarkTeatime · 19/09/2026 16:05

Bananavibez · 19/09/2026 15:04

Do yoi think a PhD should actually be required to be a lecturer? Because for some of the more hands-on courses that seems like total overkill. It also strikes me as a bit weird because PhDs are really expensive these days, so it means realistically the only people who will be able to become professional academics going forward will have a certain degree (😜) of privilege.

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Are you saying all bursaries and awards have suddenly been removed?
Were you also there for the bits bitching about how ‘lecturer’ is only a title and their primary purpose is to work/research and undergrads are the pain they have to put up with? And the discussion about how non-academics don’t realise Uni’s aren’t just about pesky undergrads, and that those with doctorates are the only people with the title Dr by right?

So, in summary, have you found the conversation you heard stimulated curiosity as to what a lecturer’s work-life if like to create these feelings?

BillieWiper · 19/09/2026 16:03

Teachers you mean? All the ones I know are lovely. Not so much the ones I had at school though!

Dandeloosha · 19/09/2026 16:03

Just reading this to avoid starting the marking of the 24*15,000 word MSc. dissertations sitting on my virtual desk 😁

Boomer55 · 19/09/2026 16:01

Bananavibez · 19/09/2026 14:45

Why? Is it not usual to invite plebs?

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It does sound a bit outside your comfort zone, if you feel like you do. I've mixed with all types of people, different classes, different intelligences etc through life, and never felt like that.

JudgeJ · 19/09/2026 15:58

Nice pay for minimal hours

You show your lack of knowledge of the job! Older lecturers/teachers would not have had the stream of whining emails at all hours in the earlier parts of their careers, personally, were I still teaching no email would be opened out of working hours. Do other professions deal with work emails out of working hours, especially the Friday night wine-fuelled moans?

Themsofcoffee · 19/09/2026 15:58

Surely you're aware that academics have to work hard? Lecturing, doing research, writing funding bids, supporting students.

Myremoteislost · 19/09/2026 15:52

The thing is most of those emails are probably completely pointless and take them away from their actual work. I worked in a school and we received so many ridiculous emails and had to spend so much time dealing with things that had nothing to do with actual teaching. I moaned and still do!

HollyhocksandPeons · 19/09/2026 15:50

Depends what they teach. Real subjects - massive respect to them, I don't know how they manage it all. They have to supervise real subjects, publish and beg on all fours for funding most of the time. Nothing is guaranteed for them anymore, tenured status these days is a thing of the past.

seahorsessky · 19/09/2026 15:49

GCAcademic · 19/09/2026 14:48

It doesn’t sound like you have any idea what the job entails.

If someone in their 60s wouldn’t get a job today that’s because the publication threshold is so ridiculously high. We now routinely interview people for entry level roles who not only have a PhD but two books, a raft of articles and a lot of teaching and public engagement experience. The salary is not high for people who are that qualified. There are also a lot of staff on precarious or hourly paid contracts which don’t reflect the volume of work delivered. This doesn’t mean the person in their 60s is useless, it reflects a crazy threshold for getting an academic job now.

The hours are not minimal either. I’ve worked nearly every weekend this year, and most evenings. I took two weeks holiday this summer and two days in April. When I was a junior lecturer, I was earning less per hour than the department secretary because of the unpaid overtime.

As for emails, I got 200 yesterday but my day was back to back with meetings and teaching which meant that the emails could only be dealt with after the working day ended. That is pretty much the norm for me.

This, and the world has changed completely. None of my grandparents or their friends would have dreamed of going to uni, and having a degree was very unusual. With my Millennial friends, most of us do, and of course entry requirements change.
Saying any specific group is entitled is just stereotyping/prejudice. There will be some people in every profession who are harder working/more effective/more entitled than others.

Satmod · 19/09/2026 15:47

I don’t think this thread delivered what @Bananavibez hoped for ie ridiculed!

Glowingup · 19/09/2026 15:45

Satmod · 19/09/2026 15:38

Law by any chance?

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😂 how did you guess? Yes, Law at an RG uni. They definitely seem to have the skills needed for their chosen career…

chirrupybird · 19/09/2026 15:42

There are academics in industry too, they are not all lecturer's, you find them in research and development roles. The ones I've known in those sort of roles love their jobs and have a real sense of achievement improving and creating products and pushing technology forward.

Applesonthelawn · 19/09/2026 15:42

In my experience, they do think they are pretty special just by virtue of being academics.

HangingOver · 19/09/2026 15:40

Quite a lot are fine but yes there are some massively self-important and pompous knobheads.