Teachers channel inner dealer, says London academic Alexandre Afonso THE life of academics is remarkably similar to that of drug gangs, with income distribution and job security skewed to the few at the top and the rank and file willing to be exploited in the hope of better prospects, a lecturer in political economy says. "With a constant supply of new low-level drug sellers entering the market and ready to be exploited, drug lords can become increasingly rich without needing to distribute their wealth towards the bottom," Alexandre Afonso, an academic at Kings College, London wrote in his blog.