The Human Nature of Professionalism.

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  • Author(s): Ong, Walter J.
  • Language:
    English
  • Publication Date:
    1978
  • Document Type:
    Speeches/Meeting Papers
  • Additional Information
    • Peer Reviewed:
      N
    • Source:
      27
    • Subject Terms:
      Academic Education; English Instruction; Higher Education; Intellectual Disciplines; Language Instruction; Language Teachers; Linguistics; Literature Programs; Professional Occupations; Teaching
    • Abstract:
      The issue of professional identity is of special concern to academicians in the humanities, especially those involved in the study of modern languages and literature. There is the problem of self-definition. Even reviewing the past of modern language and literature study affords no simple definition, as English as an academic subject has no clear ancestry and too many relatives. The confusion of ancestry and vagrancy of aims is further complicated by vigorous and rewarding hybridization with disciplines such as psychiatry, philosophy, and history. Singleness of professional purpose is also difficult to find. However, there is one feature that does practically unify today's academic teaching of modern languages and literature, and that is professionalism itself. A profession is a calling requiring long and intensive academic preparation to acquire knowledge that is to be put directly to the service of other human beings in a fiducial bond of trust. However, economic crisis and the technologizing of culture are creating problems in maintaining the high-mindedness that professionalism calls for. (TJ)
    • Publication Date:
      1979
    • Accession Number:
      ED165147