have been thinking for a while about whether there is a different attitude to The University as an entity among academics who studied pre-fees, and academics who paid for their undergraduate degree by taking out student loans that they are probably still re-paying

sparked by seeing some senior academics argue that The University is not a benign, moral, benevolent entity -- The University does not care about you! It does not want to make the world a better place! -- and these statements clearly felt surprising or even radical to them

and I'm not trying to make this into a generational slight but I was surprised at how surprised they were by this realisation, if that makes sense. And I don't know if it's good that my generation and younger feels differently (if we do!), or sad: are we clear-eyed, or broken?

Is it good that we largely see our universities, and The University, as employers like any other -- is that a good relationship to have? -- or is it bad that we have essentially given up on the aspiration of The University as a place of great moral benefit for the world

(and of course there's also a thing of millennial-and-younger cohorts generally having a different relationship to work and employment than previous generations -- the idea of the side-hustle, the lack of belief in a job for life, living through 2008 as an early graduate etc)

And it's amplified by other identities too: I don't know anyone who felt that @annehelen piece about millennial burnout as keenly, who read it so voraciously or shared it so desperately, as female academics under the age of about 38.

(My LEA paid my £1k fees as we were poor & I have debt from my living-cost loans. I was funded for my MSc & PhD and I feel like the door slammed behind me -- if I were a student now it would feel impossible -- and being part of a hinge-generation maybe makes this feel more stark)

Have realised the generational thing also works the other way around, in that I was just about to type 'of course I am very lucky to have a permanent job': I'm not sure people before me believed they had unbelievable luck to have a job that paid a salary and gave some security

My colleagues are BRILLIANT and my students are WONDERFUL and I like my job very much. And (but?) I struggle constantly to balance feeling like academia shouldn't be able to wring me out totally and the feeling that I don't deserve any of this. Like I said: hinge generation...

And balancing cynicism about The University with a desire to fight back against criticism and cuts; balancing a lack of belief in the system with a belief that education has radical and transformative potential for communities, for individuals and for society... Oh, I don't know.

Anyway: I think there might be something in the idea that feeling that your relationship to The University was transactional and economic when you were a student, fundamentally shapes your attitude to The University when it is your employer. Maybe.