.edu bashing

[Tom Stanton]

Vaska Andjelkovic wrote:
> >> Check out the job market for Humanities majors...
> >
> >This arguement won't generate a lot of sympathy.You made your choice,
> >hopefully with a full understanding of your employment options.
> 
> [big snip of good detail] The suggestion that the younger scholars who,
> if *lucky*, are now working in academic ghetto-jobs had made their own 
> beds, etc. is simply oblivious of the actual facts.  

I was an English major in the 1970s during the recession. I did not
pay attention to the world. I assumed hard work & good grades would
produce a career. Instead, I had to rethink everything, retool, retrain,
and go bootstrap myself to survive. With choices comes responsibility.
So
if young academics today listen to the advisors & things don't work out,
who is to blame? Did they explore other opportunities? Look at the 
market place? What are they doing to change their situation?

> One of my colleagues who was fortunate
> enough to snag a one-year sessional last year is currently working as a
> bar-tender and, incidentally, making more than she did a year ago.
> Neverthless, she'd prefer to be teaching.

I would've killed to teach. Wanted to specialize in Pynchon studies,
in fact, and wrote some swell papers in grad school courses. Lots of
encouragement, but no work. Dropped out & changed. Shit happens. Sorry
if this sounds harsh, but that's how things work in the 90s...