The Five Stages of Back to School

The time for back to school is upon us again - which also means back to blogging!

Image from and available at Morguefile.com

This time of year usually brings with it an array of feelings for some of us in higher education – which, with all due respect to Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, I call the Five Stages of Back to School.  I am sure some or most of my colleagues in the professorate have experienced one of these stages at one time or another during the waning weeks of summer at some point or other in their careers.

Denial tends to emerge sometime around the Fourth of July.  One’s internal monolog goes something like this: 

Summer can’t be half over.  Summer isn’t half over.  Classes aren’t starting for another six weeks.  I still have lots of summer left ahead of me.  I still have plenty of time to finish my summer research projects, to plan my classes, and to submit that book review.

Anger tends to manifest in one of two forms.  One is internally directed anger that starts to develop after August 1^st.  It usually sounds something like this:

I can’t believe summer is half over!  I haven’t finished my summer research projects yet.  I still have to write that book review.  Hell, I still have to read the book so I can write the review!

The other kind of anger is directed externally, usually at institutionally-based conditions beyond one's immediate control, rearing its head by mid-August:

I can’t teach all the classes I have to teach.  I haven’t finalized my syllabi!  I still have to complete my book orders!  The on-line book order system never works!  I still have to decide what books to assign!  I can’t believe the teaching schedule I have this semester!  Who makes up these schedules anyway?!?

Please note, however, that no matter how much anger is directed externally, the true professional does not pull a Prof. Terguson by taking it out on the students once classes commence.

Bargaining sets in shortly after anger:

Maybe I can get a course release.  Yeah, that's it!  I’ll convince them that I need the time for more research and writing.  Maybe if I volunteer for that university committee nobody likes, they’ll give me a break.  Or I’ll tell them that I’ve been ask to coordinate a big conference... an out-of-state conference.  Yeah, that’s the ticket!

Depression usually comes with binges of Netflix, Haägan Daz, or whiskey.  Pick your poison wisely at this stage:

My students are going to hate me.  My colleagues are going to ignore me.  The profession is going to disown me.  I haven’t accomplished anything.  I have wasted my entire summer and probably my whole life.

Acceptance is like obscenity – you’ll know it when you see it:

Being an academic is great.  I have the opportunity to teach young people about things that interest me.  I have the autonomy to research and write about things that are important to me.  I have the privilege of working with smart people all the time.  Who could ask for anything more?

Obviously, I am speaking in broad generalities.  Any one of these reactions can be rational or irrational in its own right for anybody at any point on the academic calendar.  All any of us can do when that happens is to strive for our best and keep moving forward all year long.  Have a good one!