Connexions
This week, a kind and sensible counselor at the Brown Career Development Center told me, "In academia, getting jobs is all about connections." I had heard similar sentiments from cynical job-searching seniors, but the force of this idea never really struck me until I heard it from this counselor, herself a former academic involved in Brain Science. I understand that hiring in Hollywood and on Wall Street is often influenced by nepotism, but shouldn't we expect more from academia, where, from kindergarten on, teachers drill into our skulls the idea that we will be graded not on our status or charm, but on our merit?
It got me thinking about connections. In the abstract sense, connections are an essential and benevolent part of the human experience. Connections bind our families, cultures, and socities together. Connections give us humanity, the idea that we are innately and intricately linked to all other people simply by the virtue of their being human.
But in the job market context, connections is an ugly word. It connotes rigid class structures, reduced financial mobility, and the adulteration of free-market economies. Connections in this sense carries with it the specter of disconnections, which afflict those who have intelligence and skill, but are unlucky enough not to have powerful people in their acquaintance.
To rectify this tension, I propose we resurrect connexions. This largely antiquated and largely British variant could be used when one is speaking of the dark and hushed alternatives to meritocracy, while connections is reserved for the noble ties of man to mankind. Now then, does anyone have any connexions in the Neuroscience field?
It got me thinking about connections. In the abstract sense, connections are an essential and benevolent part of the human experience. Connections bind our families, cultures, and socities together. Connections give us humanity, the idea that we are innately and intricately linked to all other people simply by the virtue of their being human.
But in the job market context, connections is an ugly word. It connotes rigid class structures, reduced financial mobility, and the adulteration of free-market economies. Connections in this sense carries with it the specter of disconnections, which afflict those who have intelligence and skill, but are unlucky enough not to have powerful people in their acquaintance.
To rectify this tension, I propose we resurrect connexions. This largely antiquated and largely British variant could be used when one is speaking of the dark and hushed alternatives to meritocracy, while connections is reserved for the noble ties of man to mankind. Now then, does anyone have any connexions in the Neuroscience field?
