What the devil, are you moving or something?
Why, yes. As a matter of fact we are in transition.
Good lord, you move a lot. Does it help you to get tenure to keep changing schools, or is that unrelated to how long you stay at a particular school?
Might be hard on 'the boy'.
No, changing employers doesn't help one to "get tenure." In fact, it may hurt. That probably deserves its own thread, but the short story is that there are two schools of thought on the issue of what to do when you are not happy in your current job and wanting to move. Ask ten professors and you'll get ten different pieces of advice, but they can be grouped into two broad categories. We can and should discuss that sometime. Nevertheless, I imagine that all would agree that tenure is delayed upon voluntary separation, and if rapid tenure is important to you--and based on my impression, being tenured as soon as possible is of the utmost importance to about 75% of all academics, outweighing all other concerns--then you should stay where you are and enjoy being splattered with whatever they throw in your direction and just say, "than you, sir, may I have another?"
The Boy is fine. I agree that changing schools often is hard on children, although it is not without its advantages. I went to 13 different schools from Kindergarten through 12th grade. That's an average of exactly one school per year, although it's not like we moved exactly once every year when I was growing up. I came to hear the phrase "are you new?" so many times I could predict its occurrence. I was "new" all the time. Certainly I don't want the boy to be "new." Fortunately, in my line of work the odds of him moving sometime between Labor Day and Memorial Day is exceedingly rare, and anyway I have no intention of uprooting him midyear. Nor do intend to have him attend 13 schools between Kindergarten and 12th grade, but on the level on which the statement is intended, I appreciate your concerns.
Poll
