If the "lure" of academia is to get to do high level thinking, avoid tedious mind numbing drudgery....hmmmm....I am not so sure that stuff is present in academia....in other words, its full of tedium and drudgery and the chance to do high level thinking few and far between. The ivory tower a myth? Grading papers makes proof reading footnotes look like a New Years Eve Gala out on the town! Is this the life I aspire to??!!! I dunno. I could have a more brain power left over to do high level thinking in my off hours if I worked delivering pizzas! I like my research....but if you are in a teaching position, where do you get the chance to carry on with research? And how do you have any brain cells left to do it? Or hours in the day? The thought of day after day of brain numbing marking...academic politics...yuk.

Marking is really REALLY tedious. And imagine having to read a dozen masters and 2-3 PhD theses over the summer too. Ugh!

The high spots come with a lot of drudgery - like most jobs. You just have to really want and relish those high spots and make a personal balance sheet to decide if it's worth it. I must say it's a close call for me - because of the pressure and hours, but if I can negotiate that to a certain degree I'm still on for it.

Is this my future then?? =) PhD Pizza--that has a nice ring! Ring 0800 PhD Pizza for quick and efficient delivery! The cleverest pizza in town! =)

Actually you are on to something there. I have found that it is much more tolerable to have a really mindless job than to have a more demanding job that happens to bore you rigid.

Mark on, mark on! Keeping on checking! ( trying to motivate myself back to this task....ewwww!) My reward will be to WRITE A SECTION ON MY PhD! Ohhh! What a life! ( eyes rolling). This is not what I had envisioned...I go mad having a surfeit of these kinds of tasks. Fortunately, there may be options with post docs, ( nearly typed post dogs! perhaps to go along with the PhD Pizza--PhD Pizza and Post Dogs!) think tanks, policy organisations, non-profits....or of course this idea of PhD Pizza and Post Dogs! =)

Post-dog! Brilliant term, that sums up my situation perfectly.

back to the original point. I believe the Ivory tower exists for a few, prolific and notable movers and shakers, but that it is built on a foundation of human bones of the downtrodden temporary academic underclass, and cemented together with the tears and sweat of the students.

It sure is nice from the outside though, which is why people still keep coming to the tower.

Are those tears and sweat why the tower has the shiny, ivory hue???! Its starting to sound like an enchanted evil kingdom, where the unsuspecting are lured in...tempted by some vision of goodness, or riches, or magic...and then SLAM goes the door...and...the hapless victim stays on to do the PhD, or sometimes, flees into the night ( or day)...Several fairytale images blur here...should there be a wolf that huffs and puffs and blows down the ivory tower? No, thats the 3 Pigs.

Should a wise woodman appear and rescue all the students? No, that is shades of Red Riding Hood.

Were the students are lured into the evil castle by an evil step-mother of some sort? A fairy tale staple...

Would a Pied Piper come? if he was a student he would be a Pied Pauper...but a pie might be nice to have!


Time to throw in the towel! I am no longer making any sense.

Academia seems like too much drudge for too little reward for me. I would rather work in a think tank if I wanted to think, or an organisation if I wanted to 'do'. Perfect job: consultant. Then I get to think, and do!

Marking papers, teaching hours, research groups, admin, writing, conferences... Bleugh!

Love my PhD though! (Which is why I am on here procrastinating...)

oh, i don't know - i've had a bit of seeing into consultancy and think-tank work, and don't find it quite satisfactory. the problem is, you don't get to define the question, you can't decide what is important to think about. your client/customer says: i want to know X, and there are so many more interesting aspects, but nobody is paying for those. so you stop doing the thinking/researching the second the money is out - no matter if you are doing the issue justice or not. and also - you might have told them exactly what they need to know in order to make that big change or whatever - but the change never happens. or, you never learn what finally gets done with what you produced. in the long run, terribly frustrating and definitely not for me!

on the other hand, a job as a lecturer: yes, you get caught up with the teaching bit for much of the time. but by doing that, you earn your right/money to do your research about exactly what you are interested in, to exactly the degree of precision that you find necessary, in the rest of the time.
you could just work in any non-academic job for 9 months a year and use the money to finance a 3-months sabbatical each year for some research. but if your "job" is teaching at uni, you are more flexible to keep up in small parts with research even during teaching times, you keep your job after the 3-months gap, you stay in touch with colleagues and new developments...