An ABD PhD candidate was explaining to me the situation on the ground as to employment prospects in his field, and his desire to be a professor of philosophy some day, his particular field is ethics.
After the 2008 crash, there was no more money going into professorships so there are five years of unemployed PhDs who have been putting out papers (Publish or Perish) and that is a tough crew against which a newly minted PhD must compete.
A couple of years ago the French floated a plan to raise the retirement age from 62 to 65 and the students took to the streets in protest. Why would students protest? Because the French economy is on a conveyor belt and as people drop off at 62 on one end the newly graduated pick up jobs on the other end. If for three years people did not drop off one end as they awaited the new retirement age, for three years new graduates would not get jobs upon graduation. But wait it gets worse... after the three years, when the machine starts back up taking new graduates, it would take the newest ones, leaving the graduates for the three year hiatus never to get a job for which they were educated. No wonder their system is in stress.
So maybe he has actually an advantage, because a school can get five years more service out of him than they can get out of the PhDs who have been cooling their heels for five years.
I don't have a PhD, and not even an ABD, but I do have ADD/ADHD and am employed as a lecturer at UCB. I shared with him my saga of building a side business from scratch teaching noncredit classes as schools, creating and anthology, and then identifying what is missing to write ones own book. (It is axiomatic those working are the most attractive new hires.
He was intrigued, and corrected me on the use of anthology to find what no one has touched, pointing out usually an anthology was put out to criticize other philosophers. Why, it never occurred to me that anyone would criticize another's work, but upon reflection, would it not be better to write something new and missing rather than challenge other's ideas?
And I assured him, noncredit, continuing ed is welcoming of any topic, even, perhaps especially his specialty of ethics.
With the last of my spawn graduating from university the last couple of years, I am acquainted with the misallocation of resources on campuses. The money is going into pensions and gee-whiz buildings on campus, and not into the classrooms. Hope that changes soon. Our professors cannot even afford tweed any longer. What is the world coming to?
I even wrote a book on building a business in teaching writing consulting publishing, available on kindle and in paperback.
Feel free to forward this by email to three of your friends.
After the 2008 crash, there was no more money going into professorships so there are five years of unemployed PhDs who have been putting out papers (Publish or Perish) and that is a tough crew against which a newly minted PhD must compete.
A couple of years ago the French floated a plan to raise the retirement age from 62 to 65 and the students took to the streets in protest. Why would students protest? Because the French economy is on a conveyor belt and as people drop off at 62 on one end the newly graduated pick up jobs on the other end. If for three years people did not drop off one end as they awaited the new retirement age, for three years new graduates would not get jobs upon graduation. But wait it gets worse... after the three years, when the machine starts back up taking new graduates, it would take the newest ones, leaving the graduates for the three year hiatus never to get a job for which they were educated. No wonder their system is in stress.
So maybe he has actually an advantage, because a school can get five years more service out of him than they can get out of the PhDs who have been cooling their heels for five years.
I don't have a PhD, and not even an ABD, but I do have ADD/ADHD and am employed as a lecturer at UCB. I shared with him my saga of building a side business from scratch teaching noncredit classes as schools, creating and anthology, and then identifying what is missing to write ones own book. (It is axiomatic those working are the most attractive new hires.
He was intrigued, and corrected me on the use of anthology to find what no one has touched, pointing out usually an anthology was put out to criticize other philosophers. Why, it never occurred to me that anyone would criticize another's work, but upon reflection, would it not be better to write something new and missing rather than challenge other's ideas?
And I assured him, noncredit, continuing ed is welcoming of any topic, even, perhaps especially his specialty of ethics.
With the last of my spawn graduating from university the last couple of years, I am acquainted with the misallocation of resources on campuses. The money is going into pensions and gee-whiz buildings on campus, and not into the classrooms. Hope that changes soon. Our professors cannot even afford tweed any longer. What is the world coming to?
I even wrote a book on building a business in teaching writing consulting publishing, available on kindle and in paperback.
Feel free to forward this by email to three of your friends.
3 comments:
Try for University President then - these jobs pay pretty well:
http://cjonline.com/news/state/2009-06-21/at_the_helm_kirk_schulz
"Schulz will be paid an annual salary of $350,000 — $255,298 in state funds and $94,702 from private sources."
Ah! You see, that's how come I am not rich... whenever I see a problem my reaction is "grab a pick and shovel and get to work." I never look at a problem and say "well, where is the top of the heap?"
I admire your perspicacity!
With these university admins making such silly lofty salaries, how long can this possibly last? Are these people and positions really adding that much value and worth that much? These high salaries are actually more common now. Tuition is increasing much faster than inflation at most colleges. Colleges are also offering degrees in dubious fields, like "golf course management" (does this really take a 4-year college degree?). But these schools see the money and young people are taught to take out loans for their education no matter what the cost.
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