Fixing the Humanities Ph.D. 325
An anonymous reader writes "A new report from the Modern Language Association focuses on the decline of Ph.D. programs in the humanities over the past several years. "These programs have gotten both more difficult and less rewarding: today, it can take almost a decade to get a doctorate, and, at the end of your program, you're unlikely to find a tenure-track job." According to the report, 40% of new Ph.D.s won't be able to find tenure-track jobs, and many of the rest won't manage to receive tenure at all. "Different people will tell you different stories about where all the jobs went. Some critics think that the humanities have gotten too weird—that undergrads, turned off by an overly theoretical approach, don't want to participate anymore, and that teaching opportunities have disappeared as a result. ... Others point to the corporatization of universities, which are increasingly inclined to hire part-time, 'adjunct' professors, rather than full-time, tenure-track ones, to teach undergrads. Adjuncts are cheaper; perhaps more importantly, they are easier to hire." The MLA doesn't want to reduce enrollments, but they think the grad school programs should be quicker to complete and dissertations should be shorter and less complex."
Oh the humanities! (Score:2, Funny)
In other news, who cares? When was the last time something important was done as a result of studying the humanities? They're only good for "huge manatees" puns.
We have to meny people getting degrees when they (Score:0, Funny)
To meny people are in college and there are to meny joke degrees. We need more tech / trade schools
The best way to guarantee jobs... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:I'm failing to see a problem (Score:5, Funny)
I'm failing to see where the problem is or what actually need to be fixed.
Addition of a B-ark, perhaps?
Obligatory XKCD. Have you tried logarithms? (Score:4, Funny)