.edu bashing

[Joe Varo]

On Sun, 3 Nov 1996, Vaska Andjelkovic wrote:

> [...]
> U of Chicago's Dept. of English, for example, which had been routinely
> warning its doctoral program applicants of their dire employment prospects
> during the early-to-mid-80s stopped doing so around the time I'm talking
> about.
> [...]

I can confirm this. Back in 1982 I graduated (not from U of Chicago) with
a BA in english and philosophy and was giving some thought to going on for
a PhD in philosophy. So I went to my advisor for information about what
grad schools I should apply to, based on the branch of philosophy I was
interested in at the time. 

"Well, Joe," he said as he reached for a copy of some official looking
letter, "read this first."

It was an open letter from the American Philosophical Assoc. which said
that if you're going to enter a grad program, especially with the intent
of teaching at the university level, you're in for a rough ride.

So, being already $7500 in debt for my undergrad education, I took another
path. Don't know that I made the right choice, but...

As for the general disdain for "academics" on this and other public
mailing lists, I think it may have to do with the fact that the works
which are criticized by the "academics" were not created by "academics".
Did either Pynchon or Hemingway have PhD's? Therefore, many of us "plebes"
become somewhat miffed when an "academic" assumes that they have better
access to a work because they've read so much more extensively. If the PhD
degree gives on so much better an understanding, then why aren't there
more great works of literature written by people who hold PhD's?

Personally, I value the opinion of someone more well read than I, but at
the same time, I don't think that a grad degree in and of itself makes one
a more qualified critic.

Joe