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All PhDs do not become professors. My brother has one and does very well.
Take a ride through some upscale neighborhoods in the suburbs around Boston. You'll find a lot of PhDs making high incomes. Higher education is not for everyone, but the facts are that there is a correlation between education and income.
"...But it pales compared to the gap between the wages of a family of two college graduates and a family of high school graduates. Between 1979 and 2012, that gap grew by some $30,000, after inflation..."
Don't get me wrong. My family value education above all else. We have quite a few phd's, and they all are doing very well for themselves. Every one of them is either a department head of their company or team leader.
I'm not at all dissing higher education. Both my husband and I are college grads. We wouldn't trade it for the world.
It just bothers me to see so many phd's trapped in poverty because they won't do anything to better their situation. Psychologists call this learned helplessness. Highly educated people ought to know better!
Don't get me wrong. My family value education above all else. We have quite a few phd's, and they all are doing very well for themselves. Every one of them is either a department head of their company or team leader.
I'm not at all dissing higher education. Both my husband and I are college grads. We wouldn't trade it for the world.
It just bothers me to see so many phd's trapped in poverty because they won't do anything to better their situation. Psychologists call this learned helplessness. Highly educated people ought to know better!
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.
It's a choice they make.
It's not up to others to interfere in the natural processes.
Quote:
Originally Posted by MetroWord
So, apparently, a phd does not necessarily get a person the high pay and job security like what we have all been told.
Neither does a college degree. Educating more people simply results in raising the benchmark for hiring, since employers want value for their labor costs. The end result is that a college degree becomes the new high school diploma, and those without college degrees end up losing in the job market.
More evidence that the American system rewards “being at the top of the food chain†instead of “doing hard work.â€
Question for you. If I were to go out and dig ditches with a shovel, should I get paid 6 figures for it because it is very hard work?
I've been a professional engineer for a while now. Actually, I manage a group of engineers nowadays. Trust me, working smart beats working hard every time.
^^^ LOL trust me flipping houses will not earn you any fame
Edit.
Also, if you do a little research, adjunct professors make up 75% of all college professors in the country right now.
Frankly, I wonder if some of them should try to become teachers instead. I mean, it's similar to teaching at a college or university, but at a lower level.
Also, stories such as these is why exactly I am leaning more towards becoming a teacher. I mean, I love history and thus I might as well do something that I love. However, at least being a teacher would result in a much higher pay and in much more job security for you.
The point of the free market is it allows a creative person to figure out something that he or she can do to earn money. Do you want me to spoon feed them what they should specifically do to subsidize their income as adjuncts?
Here is a possibility. Years ago I wrote a few mobile apps that earned me a steady stream of couple thousand a month in addition to my full time job income. After years of neglecting these apps, as in no upgrades at all for years, they are still earning me a couple hundred bucks a month.
These are phd people. Do you really want me to spoon feed them what they should do to subsidize their income as adjuncts?
What happened to their creativity?
I'm glad you understand this is a free market. In a free market, a PhD's salary and job prospect is still subject to market forces.
So yeah, why don't you throw out some ideas what good-paying jobs an Art History PhD is qualified for?? You seem to be under the impression that it wouldn't be too hard getting one.
You give examples that have no relevance. You can flip houses and write apps because you have the skill, the capital, and the background. You do realize that many people, including PhDs, don't have that? You think it's easy to learn to write code? Or come up with the money to flip houses? I have done both, and I know full well it's not for everyone.
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