> > most individuals are not fully made
> > aware of the high rate of attrition from Ph.D. programs, the poor
> > chances of getting tenure-track jobs, the varying rates of tenure
> > denials, etc. _before_ making a choice of going to grad school.
>
>And yet somehow you got the opposite idea; surely you aren't arguing
>that you were hoodwinked
Fact of the matter: we knew. I was warned. My dept (Mich) sent me a note sayong, You knoe there are no jobs, with the acceptance letter. But we discount the future.
>
>I think the real problem is that somehow most people who are getting
>PhDs become convinced that they are worthless and have nothing to
>say and are thus paralized by the process. I have friends who took
>15 years to get their PhD and I have friends who did it in 3
>including required coursework. Do you know what the difference
>is? 12 miserable years. That's it.
>
No. Fact of the matter is, grad school is fun. It's perpetual adolescence--that's not a criticism. You're poor, but it doesn't matter. You hang out, teach classes, read books, do politics. You are someplace interesting with intelligent people. You actually get paid to do this--not much, but it's enough. It's better than working. I had a blast, or I would have been doner much sooner.
--jks _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com