Tenure, academic careers, gender roles and children

[laira314]

I realized something being back at Knox and seeing male professors with their children throwing fits - I don't think any of us thought twice about our Straight White Male Professors excusing themselves from a scientific discussion to take care of a screaming kid. The kid is screaming, of course their parent has to do something, something being calm

Comments

[logodaedaly]

You're right -- I'd never even thought of that. I hadn't even noticed, but my other educational experiences (IMSA and Brown) took place in a totally kid-less environment. Obviously there were faculty both places that had kids, but they didn't really have a place as they do at Knox.

This is yet another thing that makes me not want to go on to the PhD when I go back to grad school. It's likely that I'll be the primary caregiver and the more flexible parent, and I'm just not sure I want to fight battles like "There is more to my life than academia". Crap like that makes whatever frustrations I have at my current job look pretty small (which they are, I suppose).