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

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]“Higher Ed is not what it used to be and it’s in part because so many people no longer value education.”

It is mostly because universities are immorally overproducing PhDs, knowing they will never get professorships, because grad students are a great source of revenue.[/quote]

So PhD students are victims?  They’re old enough and smart enough to make thoughtful, responsible decisions.  Some people love to learn. Not everyone is driven by financial ROI. Mocking their career outcome is pathetic.  I’d be thrilled to learn my kids have such educated and accomplished teachers in high school. Especially if they chose to work with teenagers.

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I think many of us making negative comments about overproduction of Ph.D.s have Ph.D.s. My years at University of Chicago were intellectually amazing, but I was in a cohort of 50 grad students. The world needed maybe 5 of us to get advanced training in our field. I only got a Ph.D. because I didn't know what to do with myself and my college professors stroked my ego. I wanted to do a more technical grad program but they told me I was too smart for that, which would have been great advice in 1962. So I wasted time and money that I did not have to do a vanity degree. I made bad choices but those choices were based on bad advice and a truly messed up pipeline.[/quote]

My goodness, I could have written this exactly. U of C was AMAZING and the best 9 years, intellectually, of my life. My (really top, great) research university has nothing like the intellectual atmosphere of Chicago. I don't regret the time and exploration. I probably regret pursuing academia because it is far more of a grind and far less satisfying that grad school ever was. [/quote]

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