Academics are wonderful, humanitarian people! I know one.

Julian Cribb says Australia is one of the very few nations on earth where the word “academic” is a term of abuse. Any evidence for this assertion, Julian? Or is this another of those tedious mind games?

The fact that a politician can deride a Academic says more about the gall of the politician then anything else. Australian's don't like being told what to do or think that's why politician’s, reporters and academics are at the bottom or the trust pile.

Julian,

I have done some extensive study on Australia's culture and society; and as to why academics are viewed in such a way, I think fundamentally, the answer can be found if you look at our history as a whole.

Our convict roots have influenced a "rough-n-tumble", blokey, work-with-you-hands kind of society. For example, one of the reasons sport is so engrained in our culture is because it was the only form of recreation the early settlers had back then.

I’d doubt that the lower class people in Britain, who had to steal to feed themselves, had much in common with the academics of the time. This could very well be where the “lack of relevance” sentiment comes from.

If the Howard government charged avid cricket fans HSCS (Higher Sports Contributions) fees of $12,000 per season on top of gate admission fees, Ricky Ponting would become a PARIAH. Cricket would cease to exist.

Our Academics are nothing without their students as sports stars are nothing without their fans.

Government has an interest in perpetuating sports events. They are the OPIATE of the masses. They give us a sense of national and Liberal identity. They give us a vicarious sense of achievement that keeps most of us safely tucked in our beds at night rather than on the street protesting nugatory Dickensian workplace reforms, HECS fees and other effete fiscal policies whose success just secretly bludges on the commodity boom.

If academics shut up about political issues and pretended to support incumbent governments, they just might find that their student/fan base is relieved of HECS fees and they can get on with the job of being community superstars.

We could have Punters, the renowned Physics professor at UNSW or Gillies the back stop professor of Chemistry at SydU or Warnie the applied communications Professor at UTS.

Academic performances giving input into manufacturing, environment, computer science, nanophysics, fuel cells and even the arts would become nothing short of an arena spectacle with every student/fan dreaming desperately that they will become the next great professor.

Issues of stale academics, tenure and non performance will be a thing of the past as the student base will cheer for the big 'ton' publishing performances and howl down under achievers who can't get their balls up around the ears of their international opponents on a regular basis

Sports Stars V Academics continued ....

To this end, Australia would become the clever country de facto rather than de jure, which is sadly the current situation. We could even have an AIA (Australian Institute of Academia) where special diets and mental and physical exercise regimes were researched and implemented to further accentuate the prowess of our academics. They would not for example be allowed to work on sophisticated cyclotron resonance machines or publish final drafts of important research unless their pee was crystal clear before the event and they were wearing a sun hat and shades to protect them from the public glare.

In order to fast track new stars into the arena, in physics and chemistry for example, the AIA could set up a range of sophisticated spectrometers covering the whole spectrum of energy and matter.They could encourage community groups and individuals of all ages with raw talent and time to take turns investigating the secrets of everyting from fuel cell interactions to mobile phone manufacturing processes. The associated set up, maintenance and mentoring costs would be large but in comarison to future benefits this would appear trivial. At any rate it could be worthily carried by commodity export taxes.
Even trivial experiences, coupled with acumen on this kind of equipment could propel numerous hopefuls onto future stardom.

More important, PBL would find a profit motive to have regular tri series academic contests from among academic teams from the US, China, India, Germany, France, New Zealand and England.

I can't wait for Twenty20 academia. It will drive the fans WILD.