The Enviable Professional Freedom of an Academic

Many people see one's academic and professional lives are two separate,distinct phases.  Schooling is something done in young age, a process of learning that culminates in certifications that signify one's ability to think critically and apply certain skill sets.  Those skill sets are prerequisites to a second phase, professional work that apply and further enhance academic knowledge that can be directed and sharpened to achieve certain goals that are worthy of financial compensation.  For most, one leads to the other (sometimes in reverse), and the two rarely, if ever, crosses paths.

But then, there are people who devote their lives to combine the two.  The very idea of pursuing academic knowledge becomes the definition of their professional lives, and the boundary between "work" and "school" blurs until they merge into one.  They see professional development not so much in applying academic knowledge, but in discovering more of them, terms in ways that are innovative and still yet unknown to most of the general public.  They see their pursuit of new academic knowledge in grandiose terms, often along the lines of enabling revolutionary changes in humans work, and indeed, live and perceive themselves.

To enter this world takes a whole new way of thinking that is not applicable (or honestly, very common) among most people in the world.  These academics, unlike people in the "real world," tend to be rather comfortable with the fact their work, even when extremely productive and highly regarded, may not have immediate impact or ramifications on betterment of living standards or enrichment of individuals.  They live in the world of "potential," where ideas, vaguely applicable to everyday life if one extrapolates hard enough, are central to definition of success rather than results reflected by positive outcomes or outputs. 

It is a strange world, justifiably called the "ivy tower."  It is strange enough to baffle the regular employees of corporations and private organizations, who simply have hard time contemplating just how academics spend fruitless years seeking out supposed "truths" that are not just elusive, but often completely imaginary, unbeknownst to the seekers.  It is baffling enough to prevent effective communications, isolating and mystifying the academics to a small cycle, where the most specific, technical jargons are shared with only a small group of people who are knowledgeable and interested enough to know.

Maniacal, impractical, seclusive...such defining characteristics of academia may sound negative but can also provide incredible amounts of freedom that the regular corporate types may never enjoy in their lives both inside and outside their jobs.  For one, the fact that the academics' outputs are not tied specifically to hard results on the ground give them the ability to work at their own pace, using their own methods and focusing only on the most interesting questions.  Since the expectations are that no breakthroughs will come immediately, the pressure is not there to quickly produce outputs.

Similarly, as the dispensary of knowledge to students, those employed by schools enjoy the level of control over their work unheard of and impossible in other fields.  Knowledge can be communicated in endless multitudes, each just as valid as any other to those who are not well-versed on the subject in question.  The teacher, knowing the gap in comprehension of the same material between him/her and the students, can then dictate the terms of engaging the subject, controlling for ways that suit the strong suits of the teacher as an individual in the process of knowledge dissemination.  

Such level of individual control over how work is done is just not possible outside the "ivy tower."  Only in schools can the intended audience be less knowledgeable of the topic at hand than the presenter.  The average corporate CEO, while aloof on the details of individual projects, would definitely have a much more lucid view of the bigger picture and overall realities.  Those presenting to the CEO is forced to play along with the CEO's existing visions and directions, with only limited wiggle room on matters too trivial to affect the CEO's overall strategies.

As slow and lonely as the life of an academic can be, the level of independence and self-control with which work can be done should be enviable for anyone who work in any other field or industry.  With funding and patronage from people who are not nearly as familiar with topics of research and teaching, the academic can remain an authoritative figure in the eyes of the public while gradually exploring the unknown for ideals that may or may not actually exist.  A relaxed individual with a knack for self-regulation should look no further than the school for a career employment.