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"a university" Your problem is that you are an indeterminate number of iterations deep into people not fighting bureaucracy, and now it has completely metastas
by jerf 3y ago
"a university"
Your problem is that you are an indeterminate number of iterations deep into people not fighting bureaucracy, and now it has completely metastasized. The number of administrators at universities is so ludicrously high that I have to imagine on some level the vast majority of them are aware of how useless they really are, and as such, the removal of bureaucracy is an existential threat to their job.
Consider this an object lesson in the importance of preventing this systematic failure from occurring as early and as often as possible.
In this particular case, yes, the correct choice is to bend like the willow and move on with life. Not only can you not defeat this process, the rewards for victory would be negligible. If the degree of fatalism that seems to entail is too much, consider changing jobs. Contrary to the loud people on the internet, there are jobs that are not just bureaucratic garbage, but you're not going to find them at a university. (They do have some jobs that are important by any measure, and if you value what you are doing because you have one of them, then by all means stay if you like, but they will pretty much all be encrusted with garbage as part of the price of entry.)
- impendia 3y ago> jobs that are not just bureaucratic garbage I would say that most of my job is very much not bureaucratic garbage. (I love research and teaching.) I just hope it stays that way.
- jerf 3y agoIn that case, I would say this even more suggests bending like a willow. But I would suggest putting your finger in the air every year or two. The creep of bureaucratic garbage in the university system has been monotonic in the past several decades, sadly. I'm not advising anything I don't do myself; frankly I advise everyone to have their finger in the air every year or two. Places change. I've been where I am for quite a while, actually, I'm not a job hopper at all, but only because my job keeps proving itself to me, not mere inertia. In the meantime, enjoy it as much as you can! I may sound really cynical here, but I actually don't mean it that way. This is a long-term strategy designed to maximize my chances of enjoying my job on a succession of short-term bases. Once you have that enjoyable job by all means enjoy it, and hope it will continue... just don't count on it continuing.