\tOne of my UOC students has the kindness of emailing me a message of thanks for my patience and efficiency \u2013I hope this doesn\u2019t sound too smug\u2013 and I feel a knot in my throat. The message comes at the right time, for I have spent a good two hours over lunch commiserating with a colleague about how we\u2019re not working for the university we dreamt of when we made the choice of becoming teachers. And I don\u2019t mean we\u2019d rather be elsewhere (um, what are things like at Harvard?), I mean that we\u2019re disappointed with the whole institution in Spain.<\/p>\n
\tI should think that human beings need encouragement to progress and fulfil their aims in life and we, university teachers, are no exception. However, in my experience the pat on the back hardly ever comes, which is why this student\u2019s generous message almost upset me, unexpected as it was. There have been others, as I guess all teachers get now and then, but always from just a handful of students, hardly ever from colleagues or the institution, the one actually employing us or the whole Spanish university. Do we do it so badly?<\/p>\n
\tThe colleagues I have discussed this with \u2013the constant lack of encouragement\u2013 often point out that we are being punished by the institution, the Government (national and local) and Spanish society at large for what is perceived to be a privileged situation. Our irregular work schedules, the incomprehension regarding what we actually do apart from what happens in the classroom, the apparent long holidays, the rumoured high salaries… all these factors play against us. Not against sportspeople, that\u2019s funny…<\/p>\n
In addition, we must put up regularly with a stream of abuse from those who complain about the endogamic nature of the Spanish university, forgetting that jobs are few, badly paid and that the Spanish university thrives, if it does, on our collectively giving for free energies that have indeed improved it much since the 1980s. We have also been abroad to learn and train, by the way. If things go on like this, the best in the younger generation will take a good note of this and leave, to be replaced by others who won\u2019t be any better, despite the widespread assumption that foreign is always best.<\/p>\n
Thanks, my UOC student, for your thanks. It\u2019s the breath of fresh air I just needed to face my new classes next week, the breath of fresh air that will carry me till July, that\u2019s how little it takes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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