I read some articles and saw a youtube video that has startled me. While I knew that US academia had its challenges I had no idea it was so bad.
Read on only if you have the stomach for some pretty depressing stuff about US academia. But please note that the articles referenced below may be biased, so please take them with a few pinches of salt.
The closing of American academia, http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2012/08/2012820102749246453.html
The article above claims that 2/3rds of US university faculty are part-time and on contract which is not guaranteed for renewal each semester (adjunct faculty)! That seems to indicate that most of such contract faculty receive no benefits or health care.
The author writes, "In May 2012, I received my PhD, but I still do not know what to do with it.". She wonders about her job opportunities as an anthropologist in US academia and whether her education is a way into poverty instead of being a way out of it!
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A brutal video on Humanities academia in the US, So You Want to Get a PhD in the Humanities: Nine Years Later, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6KkluiR5Rns (4 min, 21 sec).
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The Ph.D. Now Comes With Food Stamps, http://chronicle.com/article/From-Graduate-School-to/131795/, is an eye-popping account of how some Ph.D. qualified persons in the US are on welfare!
The article mentions a lady with a PhD in medieval history who is an adjunct professor and who is a 43 year old single mother relying on food stamps and Medicaid. She says, "I find it horrifying that someone who stands in front of college classes and teaches is on welfare,".
The article mentions a 51-year old father of two who teaches two courses each semester in the English department in a US university. He is a graduate but not yet a Ph.D who has taught for 14 years in three colleges. "He says he has taught more than two dozen courses in communications, performing arts, and the humanities and he has watched academic positions in these fields nearly disappear with budget cuts."
He is grateful for the dole as without it, his family would be homeless and destitute! The article mentions that he feels he perhaps made a mistake by learning a practical skill that was elitist instead of learning a skill that the economy supports.
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I think the education system in the US is going through a heart-rending period of change which may make it more job-oriented and cost-effective for students. Perhaps countries like India should carefully study what is happening in the US and learn appropriate lessons from it to avoid similar pain in future.
Read on only if you have the stomach for some pretty depressing stuff about US academia. But please note that the articles referenced below may be biased, so please take them with a few pinches of salt.
The closing of American academia, http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2012/08/2012820102749246453.html
The article above claims that 2/3rds of US university faculty are part-time and on contract which is not guaranteed for renewal each semester (adjunct faculty)! That seems to indicate that most of such contract faculty receive no benefits or health care.
The author writes, "In May 2012, I received my PhD, but I still do not know what to do with it.". She wonders about her job opportunities as an anthropologist in US academia and whether her education is a way into poverty instead of being a way out of it!
---
A brutal video on Humanities academia in the US, So You Want to Get a PhD in the Humanities: Nine Years Later, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6KkluiR5Rns (4 min, 21 sec).
---
The Ph.D. Now Comes With Food Stamps, http://chronicle.com/article/From-Graduate-School-to/131795/, is an eye-popping account of how some Ph.D. qualified persons in the US are on welfare!
The article mentions a lady with a PhD in medieval history who is an adjunct professor and who is a 43 year old single mother relying on food stamps and Medicaid. She says, "I find it horrifying that someone who stands in front of college classes and teaches is on welfare,".
The article mentions a 51-year old father of two who teaches two courses each semester in the English department in a US university. He is a graduate but not yet a Ph.D who has taught for 14 years in three colleges. "He says he has taught more than two dozen courses in communications, performing arts, and the humanities and he has watched academic positions in these fields nearly disappear with budget cuts."
He is grateful for the dole as without it, his family would be homeless and destitute! The article mentions that he feels he perhaps made a mistake by learning a practical skill that was elitist instead of learning a skill that the economy supports.
---
I think the education system in the US is going through a heart-rending period of change which may make it more job-oriented and cost-effective for students. Perhaps countries like India should carefully study what is happening in the US and learn appropriate lessons from it to avoid similar pain in future.
'Life of the Mind' and the hard reality today of the Humanities PhD poverty-trap. A must-read for would-be PhD scholars of all streams even if some streams like Science & Engineering may be somewhat better off: The Big Lie About the 'Life of the Mind', By Thomas H. Benton, Feb. 2010
ReplyDeleteA PhD scholar student thanks Thomas H. Benton for his articles including the above article: PhD Job Hell: An Open Letter to Thomas H. Benton A.K.A. William A. Pannapacker: How “Graduate School in the Humanities: Just Don’t Go” Destroyed My PhD and Saved My Life, Nov. 2010
A humanities teacher having 23 years experience as a Professor and who seems to be a very ethical and good human being, gives advise: Stop Admitting Ph.D. Students, By Monica J. Harris, Aug. 2010