The Work of an Academic

One of my current pet peeves is when people think that college professors don't work very much because they only teach 1/2/3 courses per semester and "have the summers off!" and so forth.  A favorite statement on these lines was when I read a commenter on a blog discuss having been to the gym at 2:00 in the afternoon (over the summer) and met another person there who is a college professor -- see!  It's the middle of the day and this professor is at the gym instead of working!  (The commenter could easily have encountered a waitress, factory worker, nurse, call center supervisor, or other working person who does shift work; would they have drawn the same conclusion?  Also, what the hell was the commenter doing there himself at 2:00 p.m.  Highly suspicious.  Obviously a slacker.)

Clearly, some professors work a lot harder than others.  Some certainly do not work enough, such as the many professors in Robert's department who were getting in trouble with the administration because of it.  There is also a huge divide between tenured and untenured professors.  Assistant professors are under incredible pressure to publish at the same time they are teaching classes (generally 1, 2, or 3 preps) that they do not already have all their lectures, notes, project assignments, exams, etc., written for.  Many of them are thrown into serving as advisors for undergrads or grad students undertaking research projects.  The typical assistant professor is in the same situation as the grad student of deciding which 60-80+ hours per week he wants to work.

Some academics (professors and grad students) try to accomplish as much of their work as possible in the office.  People like Tam basically live there.  But a lot of people like to work elsewhere, and the nature of the work is such that it isn't always obvious to others that work is going on.

For example, I spent four hours in a restaurant yesterday with Robert talking about my self-control research project (that I am doing as part of my RAship) and generating ideas that I am presently going to transfer from the napkin I covered in ink to my computer.  Then I need to start developing (and completing over the next couple days) the design of five or so experiments to test these ideas.  This development will happen while I'm walking to school, riding the bus, eating lunch, folding laundry, etc.

It's too bad people seem think that doing scholarly work always involves typing furiously at a computer keyboard or looks like this.