QUOTE OF THE DAY. Inside Higher Ed's pseudonymous Shari Wilson compares and contrasts the "real world" with the ivory tower.

It is the most demanding work I have ever done. Yes, managing millions of dollars worth of semiconductors was challenging. Designing national advertising campaigns was tough. But these positions required less of me — emotionally, intellectually, and physically. Teaching college was a whole new game. And one that would require me not only to use every skill I had to succeed — but also force me to grow and change in ways I could never had anticipated.

Read on.

And professors do not “clock out” at 5 p.m. As one online colleague posted, “The work is infinite. There is always one more thing you could, should, would like to do.” The industry encourages workaholism.

I believe our political masters call it "productivity." It is productive in the same way that tying another ten cars of dead freight with sticking brakes on ahead of the caboose with an engine on the point that could use a refit is productive.

Accountability at so many levels can place further pressure on professors. Not only do professors answer to students and their parents, but to administrators, colleagues, their discipline, the state — and ultimately the nation. Education has never been the simple task of passing information on to students. Preparing students for real-world jobs has been one goal; finding ways to assess students them has been another concern. Retaining students when local blue-collar businesses are paying double the minimum wage is a battle.

So drain the retention ponds. Really. You'll have more self-respect in the morning. And teach humanities faculty what an opportunity cost is.

Most professors I know feel impotent. They may be forced into either coddling students, watering down curriculum, or passing students who have not earned a passing grade. Those who do not give in may find themselves labeled as “outdated” or, worse yet, a political outcast. In today’s consumer-driven world, holding the line is becoming more and more dangerous — not only for institutions, but for individual professors as well.

That statement may say more about Professor Wilson's experience or her institutions. It's a mistake to view a student disgruntled by the bad grade he earned the same way one might view a diner disgruntled with the pinkness of a steak. One never knows whether one's students include a future Speaker of the House, or an emerging court intellectual for the Democrats. One might be more certain that coddling will not produce such individuals.