Sunday, January 18, 2015

The hyper-educated poor (link to article)

From first-hand experience, I couldn't agree more with this article. An excellent description of the state of affairs in Academia, and during the past few years I have found myself discouraging my students from even applying to PhD programs. My students don't listen, thinking they will be exalted by obtaining those advanced degrees, and they think they will have universities clamoring to hire them the way Silicon Valley companies hire engineers, but this is not the case. I made my share of mistakes, buying into the whole argument of the massive retirement of baby-boomers, and the opening up of positions, as well as the fact that universities would supposedly make a push to increase diversity, but this is only lip service. The baby boomers stay long past traditional retirement age, and diversity is only a watchword, not a reality. I didn't listen when I was told in the 1990s what my prospects would be. From the article: "In what appears to be a disturbing and shocking twist, pursuing the highest degree in your field can potentially mean earning less money than a high school graduate. Everyone assumes that following the course of increasing education will ultimately lead to higher incomes and better careers, but the plight of adjunct faculty demonstrate that this is not always the case."



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