Getting a Literature Ph.D. Will Make You Into a Horrible Person 489
An anonymous reader writes "An assistant professor at Ohio State University who recently earned her Ph.D. in literature writes a warning in Slate for others following the same path. She says, 'I now realize graduate school was a terrible idea because the full-time, tenure-track literature professorship is extinct. After four years of trying, I've finally gotten it through my thick head that I will not get a job—and if you go to graduate school, neither will you. ... Don't misunderstand me. There is unquantifiable intellectual reward from the exploration of scholarly problems and the expansion of every discipline—yes, even the literary ones, and even if that means doing bat-s**t analysis like using the rule of "false elimination" to determine that Josef K. is simultaneously guilty and not guilty in The Trial. But there is one sort of reward you will never get: monetary compensation from a stable, non-penurious position at a decent university. ... By the time you finish—if you even do— your academic self will be the culmination of your entire self, and thus you will believe, incomprehensibly, that not having a tenure-track job makes you worthless. You will believe this so strongly that when you do not land a job, it will destroy you, and nobody outside of academia will understand why. (Bright side: You will no longer have any friends outside academia.) ... In the place of actual jobs are adjunct positions: benefit-free, office-free academic servitude in which you will earn $18,000 a year for the rest of your life."
Misery is not limited to literature (Score:5, Informative)
In other words, if the "unemployment" number for those with a PhD included those who are "underemployed" (in comparison to the job they actually aspire to hold), the number would be much, much, higher.
No, it's not the Boomers failing to retire. (Score:5, Informative)
No. This is what we as young academics have been told for twenty years: the Boomers and pre-Boomers are about to retire, and there will be a lot of jobs soon.
The reality is that no, there is no large spike of retirements coming down the pipe, and even if there were, it does not imply there are job openings. Universities rely on large classes, heavy teaching loads, and especially adjuncts / sessionals.
Moreover, it is well-known that in the next decade or so, there will be a slump in the number of students, due to simple demographics. So, fewer, weaker students, and fewer jobs per student.
The OP is not just bitter: this is the honest truth about academia right now. And it includes the sciences and professional studies, too.
Re:This is a warning many need to hear (Score:4, Informative)
Actually, some Masters degrees in STEM disciplines aren't much better than this PhD in literature. In a lot of fields you will be doing grunt work for the PhD's and everyone will be asking you why you stopped at your Masters.
You can't take the "any STEM" thing on faith.
Re:Not surprised (Score:5, Informative)
Universities are not replacing retiring professors, they are removing the positions and instead using cheap labor (postdocs, adjuncts, etc, etc.) instead.
That is the real issue.
Re:No, it's not the Boomers failing to retire. (Score:4, Informative)
A big part of the problem is tenure; get rid of it.
You really think getting rid of tenure would increase the number of jobs significantly? Or improve things significantly? Explain your reasoning.
Consider also how many Literature PhDs a university would want to pay a decent wage to keep around.
The percentage of tenured positions is going down. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenure_(academic)#From_1972_to_the_present [wikipedia.org]
Has this been making things better? So now explain why tenure is a big part of the problem.
If you can't explain, you're probably part of the problem ;).
Re:"you academic self" (Score:4, Informative)