Falling on your sword

Last week senior faculty in the department of economics at my university offered to retire to save their department and the jobs of their younger colleagues. Although I admire the nobility of the gesture, this idea makes me uncomfortable.

It can easily become an expectation. Although at present, such a movement would benefit me (in my profession, I am still considered young), I worry about what this says about our culture as a whole. When will the noble gesture become a de facto requirement?

It is way too easy to assume that everyone is ready or able to retire at the same age. It is impossible to know everyone’s individual circumstances. They may not be financially able to retire. They likely have important ties in the profession that will be lost with them.

In many ways, we are responsible for creating the world we live in. Do we really want a world where employers push everyone past a certain age or term of service out the door because their benefits are expensive and times are tough? Is this not a form of age bias? Note that this does not have to be a stated requirement, once a few precedents have been set it will become a cultural expectation.

In ancient Roman, leaders were expected to take personal responsiblity for their actions and the actions of others and if they failed at an important task, they were expected to “fall on their sword” to preserve the honor of others. I wonder how many noble sacrifices it took for this to become an expectation. Based on recent conversations and blog comments, I would bet it was a pretty small number.

That practice fell out of favor. It is not always effective to solve problems by shutting out the individuals who have the most history with the issues. I hope we take the time in current situation to consider the larger picture.