මනස්කාර - Reflections, by Ruvan Weerasinghe
A cursoryglance at the world's dictionaries (or indeed Wikipedia) confirms that thetitle Professor does not carry a unique definition. In France forinstance, my daughter's pre-school teacher was Professeur Gendt. Inother countries such as the USA, Japan and several others, it refers to someonewho is a member of faculty of a college or university. There are also variousother definitions around the world ranging from referring to a person who is ontenure to the head of an academic department.
I must confess that in all of these senses, I am a Professor and amoften referred to as such by various communities that meet at Internationalmeetings and conferences for the past decade or so (I used to correct them atthe beginning but realised its futility as most of them couldn't understandwhat I was making a fuss about!).
In most commonwealth countries however, the term has a more specific meaning.It is the highest position within the hierarchy of academics in auniversity or college. The Latin term itself refers to a person whoprofesses to be an expert in some art or science, a teacher of highest rank.This highest of meanings is what characterises the definition in thesecountries, including Sri Lanka.
Unfortunately, much of what constitutes that high ideal is missing in academicswho are conferred that title in our university system today. Of course many ofthem possibly do profess to be experts in some art or science and sowould qualify under the Latin definition (though whether they are so, isoften unclear since the term expert itself has no uniquemeaning!). I do not consider myself as someone who has dedicated his life toresearch and academia to an extent that fits this lofty definition. To be sure,like everyone else, till around 2002, I did march along that road to promotion,collecting points to earn my right to be called a Professor, as could beseen by my online CV (in a frozen state since then). I wrote academic papers,presented them at conferences, supervised research projects, did my bit ofadministration, spent sabbaticals in prestigious research centres and reformedmy teaching. I even totted up my points to see if I had enough to be atleast an Associate Professor!
The current Professor promotion scheme in Sri Lanka, is so minutely specified,that it can be targetted by any academic without any interest in research orteaching leave alone the lofty ideal of contributing to the global body ofknowledge! Indeed anything in life that is so tightly specified often fallsinto the pitfall that renders the system quite useless. In case of doubt,consider whether we really are identifying all those who are really giftedlearners in our Grade 5 scholarship exam – or is it only those who canretain the most from a particular year in school (Grade 5) that is turning outto be as good a definition of hell for them as we can device!
As someone has said, in most cases, we value what we can measure(read: reading, writing and arithmetic – or for that matter: quantitative,analytical and verbal; and call it IQ) rather than trying to measurewhat we should value (read: kinesthetic, spatial, musical,interpersonal, intrapersonal skills also; including measures such as EQ).
All this is not to refute the claim that Sri Lanka has indeed produced some menand women who have dedicated their lives in the pursuit of knowledge and itssharing. Indeed there are even a handful to be found in the universities thesedays! There are also several who were never bestowed the title since they wereeither not in university employment or their contributions were not recognizedat the time.
Thisbrings me to my top 10 reasons for not being (and not striving to be) aProfessor.
10. Some of the best researchersin my field, and many other fields I am aware of, around the world are simplyMr. (and some Dr.)
9. Professor is nothingmore (and arguably, nothing less) than a designation in a university – nota qualification to be flaunted in public for all purposes
8. If professors call themselvesProf. why not directors, Dir., managers, Man., executives, Exec. or indeedarchitects, Arch., philosophers, Phil. or composers, Comp.?
7. Whether one is a DistinguishedSenior Professor at Harvard, MIT or Stanford, or an Associate Professor (orAssistant in some cases) at one of the many tens or hundreds of colleges of alittle known university in some far flung country, your title would be thesame, simply Prof.
6. The fraternity (of Professors)is not one particularly honouring to belong to anymore in Sri Lanka – check outany university Senate here these days!
5. The quest to give yourself in service,and that of collecting points to become a professor are not alwaysaligned – often one is done at the expense of the other
4. The title Prof. is often usedas a title of elitism rather than one signifying a dedication to a life spentin the creation and dissemination of knowledge
3. Professorship has made mostwho posses it become conceited and puffed up rather thanmaking them humble and indebted to the society that nurtured them(as I personally believe it should)
2. The title Professor is aspiredto more often than not by those who rely on it as their main source of identity(which I personally am not in need of)
And mytop reason for not being (nor wanting to be) a Professor is:
1. I do not consider myself ashaving spent my life (or spending what's left of it) in the pursuit ofknowledge creation and dissemination the way the masters of scientific researchdid in the past (nor I suspect are many of my colleagues who have joined thatfraternity or are frantically striving to!)
From http://manaskaraya.blogspot.com/
