http://blog.emergingscholars.org/2008/10/how-do-you-explain-the-academic-culture-to-outsiders/ From InterVarsity's Emerging Scholars Network Tue, 16 Mar 2010 20:44:09 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 http://blog.emergingscholars.org/2008/10/how-do-you-explain-the-academic-culture-to-outsiders/comment-page-1/#comment-76 Alan Young Fri, 10 Oct 2008 14:15:05 +0000 http://blog.emergingscholars.org/?p=164#comment-76 I think the Academic Culture is a little like the old monastic scholars in the Middle Ages. We like to pursue ideas because they are interesting (even if outsiders don't think so!) However, because of the economics of it, we are embedded in institutions that pay the bills by providing product to students and constituencies who are often much more pragmatic ("What kind of job will that get me?"). For faculty, this can be frustrating and discouraging at times, but as teachers we kind of live for the occasional student who "gets it" and wants to join the monastic culture as well. But the tension between Academic Culture and the outsider world is felt every time we face a class full of students! Most students don't love knowledge for the sake of knowledge. I think the Academic Culture is a little like the old monastic scholars in the Middle Ages. We like to pursue ideas because they are interesting (even if outsiders don’t think so!) However, because of the economics of it, we are embedded in institutions that pay the bills by providing product to students and constituencies who are often much more pragmatic (“What kind of job will that get me?”). For faculty, this can be frustrating and discouraging at times, but as teachers we kind of live for the occasional student who “gets it” and wants to join the monastic culture as well. But the tension between Academic Culture and the outsider world is felt every time we face a class full of students! Most students don’t love knowledge for the sake of knowledge.

]]> http://blog.emergingscholars.org/2008/10/how-do-you-explain-the-academic-culture-to-outsiders/comment-page-1/#comment-72 Daryl Climenhaga Thu, 09 Oct 2008 21:29:20 +0000 http://blog.emergingscholars.org/?p=164#comment-72 I haven't often tried, although I teach in a seminary. In our case, the seminary must work constantly to keep in touch with the church. If we don't keep practice and theory together, we go out of business. That aside, one works as constantly to translate academic "stuff" into popular language, and to make the connections between our theology (or biblical studies, and so on) and life in church and society. C.S. Lewis used to say that if you can't explain what you are talking about in the English of ordinary people, you don't understand it yourself. I haven’t often tried, although I teach in a seminary. In our case, the seminary must work constantly to keep in touch with the church. If we don’t keep practice and theory together, we go out of business. That aside, one works as constantly to translate academic “stuff” into popular language, and to make the connections between our theology (or biblical studies, and so on) and life in church and society. C.S. Lewis used to say that if you can’t explain what you are talking about in the English of ordinary people, you don’t understand it yourself.

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