I've been thinking recently about the perceptions that come with the word 'academic' and how it can be used in both a positive or intimidatory way. I know a bit about this; for a start I have the word academic in my job title, which frankly is a bit of a give away.
But does that make me an academic?
Honestly, I'm not sure. Some days I feel absolutely confident in what I'm doing, saying and sharing. On those days I'd probably say 'yeah' I'm an academic. But equally there are times when I go to meetings with 'proper' academics when I feel about twelve years-old.
When I first started working in academic libraries a typical mistake made by librarians was to try and turn students into proto-librarians. This was clearly a terrible idea and luckily for you this approach is now illegal in most civilized countries. Now the trend is to try to turn students into proto-academics. Although you may not personally be comfortable with this notion, I think it's a much more healthy option.
Because I think you are all proto-academics; you research, you evaluate, you debate and you may well eventually publish. You may not ultimately describe yourself as academic within your chosen full-time career, but along the way you contribute to the total sum of academic human knowledge and what could be smarter and more honourable than that?
Just remember this; everyone starts somewhere. Academics are not born, they get to be academics by reading stuff and writing about it, exactly the same way you do when you write assignments.
Finally, to those of you who are about to hand in dissertations, I trust you luxuriate in the feeling of having wings on your feet. I hope you learned something new about yourself and your topic along the way and I congratulate you on your efforts.
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