Work-life balance Scott Warnock, February 13, 2016 This week, I’m simply sharing/linking to an article I published a couple days ago in The Chronicle of Higher Education about a topic that, in many ways, underlies many of the pieces I’ve written here over the years: work-life balance. Author BioLatest Posts Scott Warnock Scott Warnock is a writer and teacher who lives in South Jersey. He is a professor of English at Drexel University, where he is also the Associate Dean of Undergraduate Education in the College of Arts and Sciences. Father of three and husband of one, Scott is president of a local high school education foundation and spent many years coaching youth sports. Latest posts by Scott Warnock (Posts) Love-one - November 28, 2025 Spain and Portugal visit, aka “My Extreme Vacation” - October 5, 2025 Sped up on the academic “fast track” - August 25, 2025 Wear your sunscreen, or, three weeks with Efudex - July 9, 2025 Dodgeball Donnie goes a wrestlin’ - April 6, 2025 ends & odd work-life balance
Great set of reflections, Scott. I think new hires may not yet realize what “work-life balance” means in the long run; after all, they have just finished writing their dissertations, getting hired, and are learning the ropes at Drexel. They may have the opportunity forced upon them one of these days, and sit for months looking at Getajob.gov or whatever spurs them to reflections on the Void!
On Halloween Day in Brooklyn amidst the streets and parks packed with costumed folks of all ages (even more adults than children) our son’s visiting Belgium friend brought up the work-life balancing issue. His conclusion: the search for life-work balance spells the end of capitalism. Before I could answer our son intervened fearing a political battle (battle these days, unfortunately, not discussions). I hope I can find the Belgium friend’s email address and send him this article. Work-life balance is a choice, a choice each person must make. The devil made me do it is no reason for the choices we make.