I have a suggestion for a fun question you could throw out at your annual Christmas party. “Professors,” you could say vaguely. “What is it they do, anyway?”
You’ll likely get a bunch of answers, many of them expressing confusion. Some will voice skepticism–the professorate is an escape from real life. Thinking, after all, is much harder to justify in empirical terms than other disciplines. Do not underestimate the power of empiricism in America.
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