[Todos] El cinismo capitalista

[fvicent en dm.uba.ar]

A la comunidad de Exactas
Asunto: Education is business now: To adapt or to die

Ud encontrara aca una carta que envie a un colega de Australia
describiendo en forma dramatica nuestros concursos y papers. El me
responde en forma sorprendente y yo le respondo en forma sombria. Los
items esta en el siguiente orden:

--Mi comentario a la respuesta
--Respuesta del colega
--Mi carta original

=====================================
I do not understand, I am afraid we live in different worlds and we speak
different languages. Indeed, It is like if I were speaking Aramaic and you
were speaking modern English. Perhaps, it is the story of the Tower of
Babel all over again. It is not a matter of business I am talking about
but a moral one. I feel like laughing - I am an atheist, but my tone is
that of a priest: Pick up your bible, my friend.

=========================================
From: "Moshe Sniedovich" <m.sniedovich en ms.unimelb.edu.au.
To: "Fabio Vicentini" <fvicent en arnet.com.ar.
Subject: Re: Rat race and academic garbage

G'day Fabio:

The world around us is changing -- moving forward they say. Education has
become a big business and is now managed according to "business
principles". Many academics are learning how to play the new game. Some
even enjoy the new environment. To some the adjustment is very difficult.

If you plan to the attend the IFORS/ALIO conference in Buenos Aires next
year (June 6-9, 2010), we can discuss this topic over a cup of coffee.

Best wishes

Moshe Sniedovich
Department of Mathematics and Statistics
The University of Melbourne
==============================================

Buenos Aires,  10th november 2009

Dear Colleagues:

The real world is not a nice place lo live in, and I face it by writing
satyrical pieces. However my second letter was answered by both of you in
a serious tone, so I will let aside the humourous genre; let me try to
describe the problem as seriously and briefly as possible.

My job for 30 year was that of an OR consultant. Mind you, not as an
academic but a professional. In the nineties Argentina was stricken by an
economical chaos a.k.a. neoliberalism. I lost my job and that forced me to
reenter my alma mater: Buenos Aires University . BAU is divided into
13units and one of them is the School of Sciences which contains 13
departments: Math, Physics, Computer Science, Geology, Biology, Chemistry,
etc.

In the math dept I was forced to write papers for journals, what they call
the publish or perish policy. This is used as a procedure to drain off the
congestion of people. In fact the school of sciences has a real problem:
there is no place for a scientist outside academy in Argentina. So
students, after getting their diploma, try to stay in school to follow an 
academic career... and what they find is a rat race.

The diabolic procedure is as follows. Once every 7 years you have to face
a contest they call"concurso". What this means is that they publish your
post in the newspapers inviting anyone who feels that he is better than
you to kick you off your chair. Let me call these candidates A,B and C.
They proceed by counting papers. If your number of papers is greater than
the maximum of A,B,C then you can stay for the following 7 years.
Otherwise you are given the sack. There is no such athing as a tenure. The
ordeal recurs until either you are terminated, or you are retired at 65 or
you die of a heart attack.

It is then crystal clear that making up papers is a foremost objective for
the academic. Mind youthey count the number of papers not the content. It
follows that the academical output is mainly academical garbage.

It is my own impression that something really wrong happened since I got
my diploma in 1963 because I dont recall such beastly rat race in the
past. What was it? When did it happen? What was Saint Paul's vision in his
way to Damascus?

Best regards,
Fabio