Bottom Line

[jbor]

>> 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?

It just seemed to be the assumption Prof. Nelson was making in the article,
as with the rest of the questions I asked. I agreed that his criticisms were
probably apt.

>> 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 junkies and prostitutes.
> Where the hell does this come from, rj? Columbia and Yale are not the
> fucking status quo, y'know?

Say what?! Actually, I know a few students who turned to the oldest
profession to support themselves through uni ... but that's another story.
Why grandstand against Columbia and Yale? As I said, by accepting the
exploitative wages and work conditions at these institutions which Prof.
Nelson alerts us to these graduates are merely justifying and perpetuating
the inequities within the system. It's all very well for the Professional
Associations and Journals to boycott them, but why don't the graduates look
elsewhere in the first place? Equity will happen much quicker if there's
noone there to teach the courses.

> Say, rj...applied for an elementary school teaching job in North Carolina
> recently? If not, you ought to...there's a shortage of over 10,000.

There you go. Who says there are no jobs for graduates?

> Teaching
> 150 students

in one classroom is against the law over here. Sounds quite Dickensian to my
ears.

> Teaching
> 150 students in outmoded classrooms with shoestring budgets and an
> administrator more concerned with campus discipline and football is not a
> sign of non-elitism, it's probably the sign of sainthood.

Hyperbole seems to be your strong suit, Derek. The administrator's
predilections for pigskin and the lash don't necessarily have to have a
bearing on what goes on in y o u r classroom. There are books: in fact,
those types of schools tend to have quite a good stock of Shakespeare, both
in the bookroom and on the curriculum. I speak from experience.



----------
>From: "Derek C. Maus" <dmaus at email.unc.edu>
>To: Pynchon List <pynchon-l at waste.org>
>Subject: Re: Bottom Line
>Date: Mon, Jun 26, 2000, 1:43 AM
>