yoshie> I knew it wasn't an easy path, but I had no inkling as to
yoshie> _exactly how grim_ the job market was; statistical facts I
yoshie> have been laying out lately were unavailable then. And I
yoshie> was a _Marxist_ who _should have known better_! Just
yoshie> imagine the state of consciousness of apolitical individuals
yoshie> who just _love_ literature, etc.
To say nothing of the fact that most people don't know *which* grouping they'll fall into: the one that doesn't get a good academic job or the one that does? About the only way to discover that about oneself with any certainty is to complete a PhD program. At which point it's too late to change your mind if you end up in the unemployed group.
I knew the grimness of the job market when I started my PhD in '93, but I also knew that *some* people do in fact get tenure track positions. Some, not many. The only way I knew to figure out if I would be among the some is to try.
My fellow PhD students and I turned out to be abominably bad at making book on which of us would get good positions. None of the few people I thought were certainties (more certain than I thought myself to be) are teaching right now. A few of the people I was sure were unimaginative grinders are now teaching on the tenure track. Go figure.
Setting aside the necessary structural solutions for a moment, there's something to be said for changing the culture of grad programs (at least in humanities) to be less psychologically devastating; I know lots of PhD people who struggle with the sense of personal worthlessness someone mentioned already. That's surely not helpful, valuable, or necessary. If there was ever any justification for such a culture, it's surely gone now.
Kendall Clark