Preparing Working-Class Academics for Success

Abstract

I was one of Ryan and Sackrey’s Strangers in Paradise, an academic raised in a working-class family. After becoming a professor, I slowly grew to understand that being a successful faculty member requires learning a different set of survival techniques than those I needed to succeed in my undergraduate and graduate studies. As it was during my student years, nobody in my family or anyone they knew could counsel me on what it takes to earn tenure, promotion, sabbatical leave, or any of the other rewards the academy offers. Compounding this problem was a counterproductive belief, one frequently held by others from backgrounds like mine. Namely, the fear that asking for help shows weakness, prima facia evidence that I was unqualified to be an academic. Beyond the questions I was afraid to ask were the many questions I did not know to ask, questions with answers that would have saved me from countless headaches. In hopes of smoothing the way for recently hired working-class academics, this article presents seven lessons I wish I had learned before becoming a university professor, knowledge that had I acquired early on would have made my travels through the university labyrinth far easier – infinitely less trying.