[Taxacom] A good year indeed!

[Stephen Thorpe]

>Those who are chosen for these jobs, and subsequently earn tenure, are carefully evaluated several times and determined to be excellent. <

Ha, that's the theory, though I have heard professional entomologists describing the reality of working in a crown research institute as "survival of the most obnoxious"

--------------------------------------------
On Fri, 14/11/14, Michael A. Ivie <mivie at montana.edu> wrote:

 Subject: Re: [Taxacom] A good year indeed!
 To: taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu
 Received: Friday, 14 November, 2014, 8:13 AM
 
 Jason,
 
 It is at least as valid as
 those who loudly and often proclaim the 
 demise of the science to bemoan their own lack
 of success at getting the 
 job they think
 they deserve.
 
 These facts
 are not my opinion: There are always more 
 taxonomists/systematists produced than there
 are jobs openings. 
 Therefore, the jobs that
 open are very highly competitive.  Those who 
 are chosen for these jobs, and subsequently
 earn tenure, are carefully 
 evaluated
 several times and determined to be excellent. Some years
 there 
 are more jobs than others.  The
 number of jobs in a given year 
 determines
 the number of successful applicants, so the selection is 
 stronger in some years than others.
 
 What is there to claim is
 personal opinion?  Social Darwinism is just a 
 canard to throw when you don't want the
 truth to be the truth.
 
 Mike
 
 
 On 11/13/2014 1:00 PM, JF Mate wrote:
 >> As in all human enterprises, the laws
 of Malthus apply to our science.Our "reproductive
 capacity" is far higher than the carrying capacity of
 our institutions. There will always be a larger supply of
 propagules than can survive (i.e. be provided academic
 jobs), and selection will take the best and discard the
 others, often a majority. Some cohorts will have very strong
 selection, so that a tiny percentage make it through, and at
 other times selection will be relaxed, and a larger
 percentage will make it. Of course, this means that
 sometimes very excellent propagules will be discarded in
 lean times, and less excellent ones will make it through in
 fat times. However, the academic reproductive rate will
 always provide a diverse pool with different attributes and
 abilities, so that the overall resulting set will be
 maximally beneficial to the future.
 >
 Mike, you are flogging a dead horse with a new stick. Do you
 think it
 > wise to appeal to social
 darwinism to support your own personal
 >
 opinion?
 >
 > Best
 >
 > Jason
 >
 _______________________________________________
 > Taxacom Mailing List
 >
 Taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu
 > http://mailman.nhm.ku.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/taxacom
 > The Taxacom Archive back to 1992 may be
 searched at: http://taxacom.markmail.org
 >
 > Celebrating 27 years
 of Taxacom in 2014.
 
 -- 
 __________________________________________________
 
 Michael A. Ivie, Ph.D.,
 F.R.E.S.
 
 Montana Entomology
 Collection
 Marsh Labs, Room 50
 1911 West Lincoln Street
 NW
 corner of Lincoln and S.19th
 Montana State
 University
 Bozeman, MT 59717
 USA
 
 (406)
 994-4610 (voice)
 (406) 994-6029 (FAX)
 mivie at montana.edu
 
 _______________________________________________
 Taxacom Mailing List
 Taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu
 http://mailman.nhm.ku.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/taxacom
 The Taxacom Archive back to 1992 may be
 searched at: http://taxacom.markmail.org
 
 Celebrating 27 years of
 Taxacom in 2014.