>
>well this just seems bizarre to me given that a) i make substantially
>more 'an hour' than a person who cleans houses here and b) i make a
>hell of a lot less than US academics
>
>Catherine
>---------------
>
>Catherine,
>
>It may seem bizarre, but it reflects conditions I discovered some
>thirty years ago. Just about any blue collar work was paying a lot
>more than beginning an academic career. . . . . >
>I am pretty sure Kelley and Yoshie could come up with similar and much
>newer stories.
>
>
Right, that's why I went into law when I got canned. I am a 1989 Ph.D in philosophy from Michigan, a top five grad school. I got a one year job at a little liberal arts school in nowhere, Michigan; then a tenure track job at Ohio State. That didn't work out, despite (in my case) publishing a lot in all the right places--I mean, top-line, mainstream journals, not lefty places. I was making, btw, about $35K when I was canned, and I started a (relatively low paid) law job at $40K four years later. I might have looked forward to making $50K a tenured prof, someday. I am now making about $60K in my government law job. (I could go out and get a law job starting at $150K, but it would mean working 80 hrs/wk.)
Anyway, when I was canned, I was untouchable: too fired, too red, too old, too published. I went into lawe because I wasn't going to be a nomad working for slave wages. Basically, unless you get lucky or get canned from a top 15 school, your career is over if you don't get tenure at your first or second job out of grad school. This despite the fact that, as far as I can tell, I am better by conventional standards than about 85% of the tenured philosophy faculty in this country. But I am unemployable in academe. Fortunately, law is not so limited.
--jks _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com