Everyone that I know has at least heard of, or lived through, the sibling rivalry. I am the little brother, the position that is simultaneously protected from, pulled into, and resented for any trouble. But my brothers and I didn’t have the same hazing and backstabbing rituals that we heard from the brothers in other families. One of my first and greatest strokes of luck was that my brothers were not vindictive in our mutual competition. But the many stories I have heard makes me think that this quality is rare, especially between those who are in close proximity due to circumstance, not choice.
This is the source of one of my worries about becoming a professor. Where rewards are based on research, a cunning and ruthless professor can push for publications and grants ahead of others. This must be a large reason why universities avoid having many professors in the same sub-field. Positions of power, especially power over others, always risk corruption. Advisees are pushed to make sacrifices in order to gain favor and acceptance, which can easily turn to doing the ‘dirty work’. Both meanings are included in this: work that is undesirable, and work that is unethical. So while research-centered universities reward publications with either tenure or degrees, then a ‘ends-justify-the-means’ mindset is going to take over. This has always been the main defense of competitive environments: “it gives the best results” or “participation trophies ruin the purpose”. It is maddening when non-profit, public universities that commonly espouse that education is a fundamental right and a universal good, fall into this Zero-sum Thinking.
I can’t find a clear replacement for the role of competition within our very social society, or even just inside one university. But it needs to move away from cut-throat competitiveness to the perspective that me and my brothers have. So if there is going to be competition, then the rewards should be proportional to the effort. If the only response an institution has for a good outcome is “better luck next time” when alongside a great outcome, then that institution needs to rethink its mission. Each new publication, professor, class, or student that a university considers can give hints to the university on what makes a great publication, professor, class, or student. Or the university can waste that opportunity away with a phrase like “The assistant professor with the best funding get tenure this year”.