Barbara Berlusconi: Publish and Perish

I’m just saying… Who said that a degree in philosophy was useless and that we should direct all our young people to the scientific/technical disciplines?

We now have proof that that is a idea is wrong. Barbara Berlusconi, the daughter of our Prime Minister, has just graduated in Philosophy at age 26. A 3-year, first level degree to be precise. She obtains her degree cum laude and she is offered a job on the spot as Professor in a brand new Faculty of Economics by Father Verzé, Vice Chancellor of the University Vita Salute San Raffaele.

Will she accept, will she not accept? who cares? The reality is that in the space of one minute we have all been brought back to the days when the clergy and nobles (in this case, the haute bourgeoisie) were united in their effort to control the poor people, to make sure they knew their place.

In this case the poor people are people like me, like the thousands of “precari”, researchers with a lot of work but no secure job, who for years have studied, taught, published and struggled to survive with the compensation they get for teaching an entire course for less than 1000 euros. Yes, 1000 euros. And not a month… but for the entire duration of the course. Exams included. For 3 years. And of course, in most cases regulations keep you from teaching more than one course at a time.

Basically, they get the ice-cream money that Dr Berlusconi keeps in her stylish handbag when she goes out to buy the newspaper (probably one of hers…).

People who by the age of 26 had already graduated when the old system was in place, and the University was still something that people took seriously, when you had to study for 3 months for a single exam without leaving your books, even if you studied humanities, that’s right.

People who have been waiting for years for a position to open up somewhere which has not already assigned to some 26 y.o. with a bachelor’s degree. People who try to do their best to convey their passion for learning and for their discipline, helping their students even if they make less than the guys selling bracelets on the street.

If Ms. Berlusconi has academic dreams, good for her. It would be good for the whole country if an heir to the ruling dynasty had to go through the whole process that people like me and like many of her fellow in philosophy graduates have had to go through, waiting for years in the (vain) hope that society becomes aware of what it is asking of a whole generation of people who stupidly believed that education was the key to a better life.

Personally I think many of us will never get a secure job at the University. So be it.

It would be much more honest if the government and parliament ceased to promise not to abandon us and had the courage to start doing openly what they’re doing already: deleting a whole generation of people who are working and have worked in the university for years and who started from scratch. We will just have to accept it.

But at least, replace us with some showgirl, or some calendar model. At least then we’ll know that the requirements for access to an academic career have simply changed and we’ll forget about PhDs and other graduate studies.

I would just like to understand how they are not ashamed of themselves. How many more insults will we have to put up with?

Apparently in Italy, the rule is publish AND perish.