Reply to Indiana University political science placement director writes scorched earth letter to PhD students

Forum Index » College and University Discussion

Reply to "Indiana University political science placement director writes scorched earth letter to PhD students"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I'd posit that a lot of the problems we have in the world today stems from de-emphasizing the liberal arts over the past generation or two. I don't think you should waste time and money getting a PhD in the subjects. But a better background in things like history, philosophy, logic, rhetoric, poetry, music, and art would create more capable citizens.

Things aren't going to end well if we're nothing but a country full of computer programmers, finance majors, plumbers, and high school dropouts. [/quote]

Better background in those areas is good, I agree. But they don't need a PhD. We could just teach it to all undergrads as part of required courses (like it was at at my university).[/quote]

You absolutely need PhDs who are trained and whose jobs are to produce knowledge. You can't just teach old stuff without of how our changing world affects our understanding and application of those texts and ideas. I agree that you don't need as many PhDs as are being churned out right now.[/quote]

You do not need hundreds of new English literature PhDs expanding their research into ever narrower topics that haven't really changed in decades. The vast majority of PhD theses contribute nothing and are never read following their defense.

[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics