Academic Kakistocracy

http://lucatrevisan.wordpress.com/2009/10/18/academic-kakistocracy/

by yarapavan • 17 years ago

29 7 17 years ago

lucatrevisan.wordpress.com

philk• 17 years ago

It's an interesting idea, but I can think of three other possible explanations for the individuals who rise to the top being the least adept at research:

1) The individuals who rise to the top may be the most socially/politically able - developing these social/political skills might be time consuming, thus reducing the amount of time a particular individual has to perform research.

2) Rising to the top might saddle individuals with so many new responsibilities that they do not have the time to perform quality research.

3) People may resent others in their field who are doing better research and align against them, not because they have more opportunities elsewhere but because they resent their ability.

yummyfajitas• 17 years ago

My personal theory (based on working a few years in academia) is this:

4) Good researchers usually don't want to rise to the top.

Think of it this way. What would you rather do? Hacking, or preventing the university president from interfering with other people hacking while handling administrative work related to hackers performing their teaching duties?

There are of course exceptions to this rule (I work for one), but they are few and far between.

bhseo2• 17 years ago

Reminded me of this saying:

"Someone that pretends he is an idiot, is not actually an idiot."

bhseo2• 17 years ago

On a sidenote,"kakistos" means "the worst". hence kakistocracy.

yardie• 17 years ago

This doesn't just apply to academia. You can always see it in the workforce. And, more visibly, in the primary, secondary schools. Good hackers rarely make good managers, and good managers get promoted not because they are good at hacking code.

My mother told me a story about giving a glowing review to her colleague, not because she was a good worker, but because she wanted her out of her hair. She wasn't fireable, so the only option was to send her somewhere else.

And most people will first encounter this in school. Where the best teachers don't always have the best titles. And the worst are always promoted. Teachers have strong unions so if you can't fire them then you can promote them. Some of the worst human beings I've ever met were vice-principals. People who clearly have no business in education at all. But through fortune and incompetence are given titles and offices away from students.

yarapavan• 17 years ago

This reminds me of the 'Peter Principle" which states that

* In a Hierarchy Every Employee Tends to Rise to His Level of Incompetence

bd• 17 years ago

See also previous discussion here on HN about this topic:

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=793205

Academic Kakistocracy

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