Bottom Line

[Jill]

First, 

The story of these posts also should include -- WHERE were you thinking of
getting a job? Somewhere desirable or somewhere .. undesirable? I think if
one complains about not getting a professor job, one hasn't tried a college
out in the middle of the hot humid desert or up in the high desert or inner
city skid run, or down downwind from the refinery or pig farm... These
places (i am GUESSING) probably need professors and I'm guessing would be
good places to gain experience coupled with a nice low cost of living. I
say I am guessing because that is the way it is with higher education in
other fields like the one I chose.

And second, the reason why aspiring graduate students get degrees is
because they perceive it will mean they can do what they love with pay off
in the long run (or they are professional students mooching..). Perception
affects what students do. If more people in each field like Carlson would
write these kinds of pieces for the respective fields, and maybe use a more
common language, and be in a highly accessible book called, let's just say,
the "straight simple on the job market in XY&Z higher education fields"
with these same problems of huge loans and working for pennies, maybe fewer
would clog up the academic system, or attach themselves to outreach like in
that Wilson grant. Instead, government documents about employment and most
reference books that regurgitate documents, just show pretty tables and
graphics with lines of pay through time that go nicely up for master's
degree, go down and then way up for doctorate, and slightly inclined but
mostly flat line for BA. And a line pointing slightly down for the one with
a high school education. With a few vagueties about competition, demand,
and satisfaction. A-and the doctoral schools--ie journals just want to
survive, so they aren't going to let you in on any hard knock realities. 

Jill
Librarian

Derek C. Maus wrote:
> 
> On Sun, 25 Jun 2000, jbor wrote:
> 
> > Why is there an automatic assumption that postgraduate studies will or
> > should lead to a job in a tertiary institution anyway?
> 
> Why is there an automatic assumption that there is an automatic assumption
> in this regard? Have you actually talked to a recent graduate student in
> the humanities, because the *vast* majority of my colleagues have no such
> assumption, even if they still do hope that this will somehow be the
> result of the process.
> 
> > What are the PhD candidates themselves thinking and expecting when they
> > enrol, and what or who has led them to believe that they will get full
> > academic tenure at the successful completion of their degree?
> 
> Anyone thinking this is an idiot. I dare say that 99% of those I have met
> in graduate school are not idiots. Ergo...Again, what leads you to believe
> that this attitude is so common...the words of profs like Cary Nelson (who
> I actually like quite a lot) who are already tenured from a time when the
> jobs/applicants ration was under 100:1?
> 
> > How were they supporting themselves while they were studying? Good
> > Lord, how many postgraduates are simply twenty- or thirty-something
> > "professional students" mooching off Mom and Dad and the research
> > bursary for as long as they can
> 
> Yeah...and those no-good lazy homeless too! All