Graduate School in the Humanities: Just Don’t Go – Chronicle.com

AN ACADEMIC IN AMERICA

Graduate School in the Humanities: Just Don’t Go

It’s hard to tell young people that universities view their idealism and energy as an exploitable resource

[From Graduate School in the Humanities: Just Don’t Go – Chronicle.com]

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I think this should not just be Humanities, it is somewhat the same in the social sciences, physical and chemical sciences. biological sciences might be different, but that might be changing also. There are only so many jobs, and there fewer jobs all the time.

Many colleagues expect an increase in graduate student enrollment in the next few years in many fields, as that always happens in a downturn. However, they know that of the few that actually graduate with their ph.d.’s, fewer will get jobs, and of those, even fewer will get tenure. It isn’t about talent as much as willingness to submit to the system and grinding through:)