“What’s the common denominator, then, in what professors do all day? Translation. We translate from a field of knowledge to people who want to know about it. . .We all live in at least two worlds. One of those worlds is a world of ideas, of print and numbers, a world almost limitless and impossible to master, growing every time we turn our backs. The other world is the immediate and human world of classes, committees, office hours, deadlines, budgets, advising. Without being a citizen of both worlds, an active participant in both worlds, we are diminished, our ability to teach diminished. The dichotomy between teaching and research is no dichotomy at all if we understand that a professor journeys back and forth between two worlds, translating among many people.”
One response to “What Do Professors Do All Day?”
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I am just a lecturer not a professor so I am not sure if this counts. But, I spend a lot of time writing letters to the administration or visiting them. For instance today I had to go to one of their offices to find out who to write a letter to in order to get my $100 a month rent subsidy for next year. On my list of things to do I still have seven more administrative letters left to write this week. Teaching and research together are less than half of what I do. The biggest part is taken up by other things.
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A conservative literary critic and college professor
Clarissa's Blog 
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