Professional Etiquette

I wrote, at length, about “sports etiquette”, over the last few weeks, and came to the conclusion that there is very little of that in the modern game, whatever it may be. It is always all about winning, and when it comes to ways and means to secure victory, no stone is left unturned. All of us have also been quite partisan in our behaviour as spectators, for we,too, have cheered and jeered vociferously, as the situation demanded. It is almost as if this testiness has come to stay, for no one likes to lose.

Football and cricket and baseball and basketball are all professional sports, but, essentially, they are just that. What about scholarly pursuits? What about the noble profession of teaching? What about research, especially in the arts? You would normally expect a great deal of mutual respect in these fields, even as there are boundaries that a genuine professional would not cross. But no! This is not the case in a majority of professional fields, for the rat-race has overcome dignified scholarly pursuits, what with tenure, rank, high-stakes funding, and the old “you-scratch-my-back” syndrome that let’s loose the dogs of war in the arena of academic activity.

Have you ever encountered “professional jealousy”, dear Reader? If you are the “grin-and-bear-it” type, you have probably come across it, but didn’t give it another thought because you gave up and gave in. In today’s academic world it is not considered proper to shine too brightly, too soon. Give it time, absorb the pulls and pushes of the system, and try to let your light shine dimly, so that you are also noticed as “one of us”.

Bull-crap is what I say that is! The injunction is very clear:” Let your light so shine, that men may see your good works …” Don’t preach, don’t get up on a pulpit and sermonise, don’t give up the gift that you were born with and what you were meant to do with it, just teach—with humility, with patience, and with confidence (in a way that brings out your originality, even as you tread paths that many have trod before you). Wisdom is also an acknowledgement that your knowledge has its limitations.

I’m preaching, am I not? We’ve all done that, in our time. Wisdom is not the exclusive preserve of the elderly, for there are many senior citizens who are absolutely bonkers. I’m not talking about myself here, but who am I to judge? “Ripeness is all” is what the Bard teaches us, but ripeness without sweetness and light means nothing.

I did not encounter professional jealousy in my early years as a teacher. I believe I was accepted wholeheartedly by the student community, because I was almost one of them. I enjoyed my teaching and my students enjoyed it too. Believe me, it is easy to spot a fake from the real thing in the academic field. For 28 years I had the time of my life in my College, but things turned out differently in foreign climes.

In 3 months I was asked to helm the English Language Centre at the Salalah College of Technology, in Oman. That’s where it all began—the questioning, the rumours, the racial divide, the works, everything hush-hush. I rode out the initial storm, established myself as the one most suited for the job, and sealed the stamp of my authority with superior work-experience, with better hands-on knowledge, and with the blessings of my higher-ups. I didn’t realise that every rise must have a fall, and the most unethical means were used to ensure my ouster.

The same thing happened at Shinas College of Technology, in Oman’s north. I joined as HOD, established a system in the relatively new institution, and planted a seed—one that is flourishing even today. I initiated an annual Seminar as part of the academic calendar, and it still grows—every year. However, pettiness and intense professional jealousy brought me low. I completed the year and left, feeling all the while that I was “more sinned against than sinning”.

Have you experienced such mortal pangs, dear Reader? It’s a terrible feeling when you understand that you have been bested by your lessers. I hope such a predicament never happens to you.