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That's been exactly my experience as well. The barriers to entry keep well qualified professionals out.
Being a professional doesn't mean being a good instructor... maybe a trainer but that isn't the same as teaching since it assumes basic background knowledge
Really? I have no degree, and can guarantee you I earn more than all but a tiny handful of history majors.
What are these "endless opportunities" for history majors? Other than getting on tenure track in academia. And, of course, other than the generic checkbox for having any degree at all.
Tell that to my wife. She has an MBA, I think three Bachelor's, and an AA. I earn three times what she does.
And while I have certainly known several Ph.Ds who have done very well, that's pretty much exclusively in hard sciences (again, outside of academia). Where does a Ph.D in history make more than MBAs or people with real technical skills?
Higher education is, or can be, a good thing. But it is not a panacea, and there are literally millions of people out there with degrees that are unlikely to ever pay for themselves while those folks carry around five- and six-figures in debt it'll take them decades to repay.
I agree completely.
Last year, I befriended a college student who was majoring in *sigh* philosophy. One time we were talking about his future plans. He sighed and said he already know he will work as a waiter for the rest of his life after he graduates.
It really made me sad that he realized this too late as this was his senior year. I asked him why he chose philosophy and he said it was for personal fulfillment. Then he added he recently realized this was a mistake.
Schools should shut down these useless majors. Too many young people are falling into the trap of borrowing tens of thousands of dollars for personal fulfillment in college.
Do a search for adjunct professor on youtube to get more videos like that.
I've been watching those video documentaries on adjunct professors who live in poverty because they get paid less than custodians. Worse, they do not have any benefits or job security.
So, apparently, a phd does not necessarily get a person the high pay and job security like what we have all been told.
While I was watching these videos, here are the thoughts that came up in my head.
My full time job is an engineering manager. My husband just graduated college and started working for a temp agency at $12/hr while he looks for a full time job that utilizes his degree with good pay. In the mean time, we own a business flipping houses. Instead of hiring contractors to do the work, we do ALL the work ourselves, including plumbing, electrical, etc. Because we are using sweat equity to flip the houses, the profits we make from flipping houses are considerably higher than normal flippers per house. We are saving every penny we get from these houses to expand our real estates business in the long run.
In other words, aside from our full time jobs, we also do other things to better our financial future.
Aren't phd people suppose to be smarter than the rest of us? If they can't find a tenure position, why not attack their financial situation from multiple fronts? A lot of these adjunct professors say teaching is their passion. Well, ok, find something that is profitable and do that in addition to teaching. My husband and I both work full time and we also flip houses in addition to our full time jobs. Trust me, when you have the will you will find the time.
If these adjunct professors can't make ends meet at the end of the day, why not be creative and do other things to subsidize their passion? Complaining about it does absolutely nothing to better their situation. In fact, that's what low skilled minimum wage workers do, complain about it instead of actually doing something to better their situation.
No idea what having a PhD has to do with this. Most adjunct professors don't have PhD's. Adjuncts usually only teach 1 or 2 classes a semester. Why would they be able to support themselves on that? Maybe they should get a full time teaching gig. Everyone I know who is an adjunct also has a full time job.
Being a professional doesn't mean being a good instructor... maybe a trainer but that isn't the same as teaching since it assumes basic background knowledge
But it doesn't mean the opposite either. One thing is certain though. You can't teach what you don't understand no matter how much instructor education you have.
But it doesn't mean the opposite either. One thing is certain though. You can't teach what you don't understand no matter how much instructor education you have.
true, but it isnt hard to beat the bar for teaching someone with zero experience in the learning material... all instructors have more experience than students even if they arent the top people of the field
college students dont need the best from the start, they can find those people on their own networking later on once they get a good enough background to figure out what they want to do
just like how i can tutor basic music because of sunday piano playing, once they advance beyond what i can do, they can find another instructor, school is the same tiered instruction, teach enough to get students a certain level, then get a new instructor
adjunct professorships arent teaching people to be experts in any field, so expecting them to have expert knowledge before teaching isnt of much use
sounds like people are expecting more out of a college system than what it was designed for, instead of finding one that works for them that is outside the college system
edit: yes i see those poor adjuct teacher videos on youtube... they spend decades in that position and complain their lives are hard, why didnt they do something two years into that decade if they knew what the next ten years would be like? same view i have of chronic minimum wage workers, stop complaining about the work system if they make no attempts to get out of it
there isnt a shortage of websites that let these professors develop courses to sell on their own, and make more money or get hired on as corporate trainers
This phenomenon is not limited to PhDs but also JDs. A lot of people get out of college (myself included), aren't ready to hit the workforce - in my case because I started college really early - and figure they need more education. Many default to studying Law, because, why not? It's portrayed as a challenging degree with decent career prospects.
Au contraire! Many of my fellow law grads are struggling to get by ten years later. In my case, I realized my persisting in law would be tantamount to polishing the brass on the Titanic, so I jumped ship into IT and am very happy now. But some persisted in temp work, document review, and other low paying jobs, while buried under student debt.
There's no easy answer to address these types of issues. But for a start, we need to require our institutions of Higher Education to be honest about the job prospects and average salaries for certain areas of study. Graduate statistics should be open and available to all applicants. For example, if the best you are likely to do as a law grad with a 150 LSAT and a mid-ranking law school degree is going to be fighting with your peers over a $20/hr temp document review job with no benefits, then we need to be telling this to our undergrads, instead of giving the false illusion that the 3 year degree is a pass to a solid, middle class job. Maybe look at other alternatives instead? Most college grads in their early 20s are ill-equipped to understand the consequences in this sense.
This phenomenon is not limited to PhDs but also JDs.
There's no easy answer to address these types of issues. But for a start, we need to require our institutions of Higher Education to be honest about the job prospects and average salaries for certain areas of study. .
it happens to any degree or even no degree at all, you run into a job situation you dont like, you go learn something different and switch jobs, the degree has nothing to do about it
the colleges do provide it, ask the professors and network around or look on the internet, none of this is clasified or hidden information
how many actually talk about the job situation before actually graduating? hard to place the blame when the people in auestion didnt bring up the question first. colleges cant even say if the person intends to use the degrree for a job, of getting it as a hobby
This phenomenon is not limited to PhDs but also JDs. A lot of people get out of college (myself included), aren't ready to hit the workforce - in my case because I started college really early - and figure they need more education. Many default to studying Law, because, why not? It's portrayed as a challenging degree with decent career prospects.
Au contraire! Many of my fellow law grads are struggling to get by ten years later. In my case, I realized my persisting in law would be tantamount to polishing the brass on the Titanic, so I jumped ship into IT and am very happy now. But some persisted in temp work, document review, and other low paying jobs, while buried under student debt.
There's no easy answer to address these types of issues. But for a start, we need to require our institutions of Higher Education to be honest about the job prospects and average salaries for certain areas of study. Graduate statistics should be open and available to all applicants. For example, if the best you are likely to do as a law grad with a 150 LSAT and a mid-ranking law school degree is going to be fighting with your peers over a $20/hr temp document review job with no benefits, then we need to be telling this to our undergrads, instead of giving the false illusion that the 3 year degree is a pass to a solid, middle class job. Maybe look at other alternatives instead? Most college grads in their early 20s are ill-equipped to understand the consequences in this sense.
Or...if you are serious about being a lawyer, you pass the bar and get to work, or get to work and then pass the bar. The government is always hiring but you won't make the big bucks there. Of course, there's no reason to think a twenty-five year old would work for the same employer for forty years either.
I have a relative who did just that for a few years then got a job with a private firm for a few before going to work in the US Attorney's office in one of the largest offices in the country. A few years there, a few in private practice, then back to the US Attorney's office as deputy, or whatever term is used. He eventually was the US Attorney for that large district for about three years. And his alma mater would only be called mid-ranked on a very good day.
He has been a partner in a prestigious national firm since then.
In my department, the adjunct professors are all wealthier than us tenure track folks. They are all chemists who retired from industry/management jobs to teach part time. They bring lots of expertise and provide a good complement to the primarily academic perspectives of the principal faculty. I remember my first year teaching when I commented to a fellow assistant professor that a wealthy alum must be visiting because there was a big black Maybach Mercedes parked in the handicapped spot in front of the chemistry building. He said "No, that's just Roger." He's an adjunct teaching O-chem lab. His Jeep is in the shop so he took the Merc."
Location: In a city within a state where politicians come to get their PHDs in Corruption
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Quote:
Originally Posted by vladlensky
This phenomenon is not limited to PhDs but also JDs. A lot of people get out of college (myself included), aren't ready to hit the workforce - in my case because I started college really early - and figure they need more education. Many default to studying Law, because, why not? It's portrayed as a challenging degree with decent career prospects.
Au contraire! Many of my fellow law grads are struggling to get by ten years later. In my case, I realized my persisting in law would be tantamount to polishing the brass on the Titanic, so I jumped ship into IT and am very happy now. But some persisted in temp work, document review, and other low paying jobs, while buried under student debt.
There's no easy answer to address these types of issues. But for a start, we need to require our institutions of Higher Education to be honest about the job prospects and average salaries for certain areas of study. Graduate statistics should be open and available to all applicants. For example, if the best you are likely to do as a law grad with a 150 LSAT and a mid-ranking law school degree is going to be fighting with your peers over a $20/hr temp document review job with no benefits, then we need to be telling this to our undergrads, instead of giving the false illusion that the 3 year degree is a pass to a solid, middle class job. Maybe look at other alternatives instead? Most college grads in their early 20s are ill-equipped to understand the consequences in this sense.
When I go shopping for a car, real estate, appliances, insurance, I don't think the salesman on the other side has my best interest at heart. I do my own research. I'm not sure why the institutions that profit from ignorance should care to change, irregardless of whether or not they're car dealerships or universities?
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