To think academics are seriously entitled??

[Bananavibez]

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"...

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

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

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?

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

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

You sound jealous of their high pay and minimal workload

I doubt @Bananavibez even works

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.

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

Envy much?

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

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.

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

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.

Whaaaaat? OMG, that is the limit!

I don’t know who you met, but my father was an extremely skilled research chemist and was not remotely entitled. He did not receive a promotion or pay rise for many years due to being the kind of modest and hardworking person who would never ask for this kind of thing. He did not get university holidays off, contrary to what many people seem to think, because scientific research happens all year round. He was genuinely paid very little by the end of his career compared with what he would have been paid in industry, however he was a relatively shy and retiring person who would not have uprooted his family to follow his own career.
I’m sure all academics are different, but I believe many do amazing things, especially on the scientific side, and they are generally not especially well paid, and nowadays don’t even have permanent contracts.

But there are those people 'in academia' who get away with doing the bare minimum. We all know at least one of those, surely? Research is a broad church.

I work for a consultancy that did a project at a uni once. What surprised me is the academic ego is vast, and mountains are moved to soothe the ego. Having always worked in private companies where people are driven by a profit motive, it’s odd to hear grown adults having a hissy fit because prof x has more people working for them / a bigger office / less teaching. Quite pathetic.

They are surprisingly poorly paid on the whole unless you move up the ranks, and I’m not convinced the promotion up the ranks is entirely based on merit either. Seems like a crap environment to work in.

Some people are lazy. It was not in academia that I met the worst offenders on that front, personally. Especially because job security is the way it is now.

Why? It's a horrible thing to say.

only if you’re a lazy academic

A lot of academics have long commutes – before I was able to get a job where I live, for example, my commute was two hours each way. There are lots of reasons for commuting, including that many academics have to shift university if they want a new job – and that may mean moving to a different part of the country, or indeed world. Over time it can be increasingly difficult to simply pack up one's life and relocate, so people will accept a lengthy commute instead.

At my previous university, I had a supportive timetabling officer who did his best to schedule my teaching so it was concentrated over 2-3 days during term time. He also tried to avoid early morning starts, although at times this was impossible, so I'd have to leave home at 6.30am and pay £££ on a peak train ticket for the privilege of conducting a 9.00am lecture to 30 students (for a class with 150 students enrolled).

As others have said, academics undertake a huge amount of unpaid overtime. The workload is relentless and, frankly, impossible.

The pay ranges from miserable to decent, although in some areas (I'm in one – law), one would be paid hugely more to be in industry/practice. It is quite depressing to think that recent graduates are on six-figure salaries at Magic Circle firms when they can barely be left unsupervised to write a legal letter!

To this we can add that many academics are facing redundancy due to existential threats in the sector.

So no, academics are not entitled, and the complaints are fair enough!

The egos are absolutely hilarious, the pettiness unbelievable. And yes, you're correct, promotion doesn't always depend on merit. Pathetic indeed.

The hours are not minimal!

my dad was a uni lecturer until he retired and the marking was insane.