no one is forcing you to do anything. or is something forcing you there in a profession you find useful.
whatever is keeping you there is likely the phenom that you're after re: poverty. if you don't know how it happens, given the reams of sociological monographs (e.g. Ain't no making it, Jay MacLeod, is a start) then you really ought to consider something else.
kelley
>At 02:25 PM 5/30/01 -0400, kelley wrote:
> >no, it is merely used to ignore the fact that no matter how hard people try
> >to behave and think middle class, that capitalism means that not everyone
> >can even be middle class, that poverty is created by capitalism, not by
> >poor schooling or by not knowing how to carry yourself or dress or
> >appreciate fine art.
>
>
>And how exactly does capitalism do it? That is, who tells certain people
>that they should drop out of school, put baggy clothes on, start listening
>to (c)rap musing and doing drugs, and what does he do to enforce it? What
>happens to those people who do not want to go with the (capitalist) program
>and go to college and apply for office or academic jobs?
>
>
> >"i also would like an academic job. i am not very
> >good at much else, plus i don't like following others'
> >orders (and don't do it very well) or getting up in
> >the morning for a 9 to 5. the idea of not being able
> >to get an academic job makes me a little nervous since
> >this is exactly why i went into a grad program."
> >--Sarah M. Pitcher, Syracuse University (quoted w/ permission)
>
>
>That is exactly why I decided to go to college - and was quite open about
>it to the great disappointment of my old folks. Except that I was quite
>good at "something else" - I was supposed to be an electrical engineer, but
>the engineering crowd scared me, too much "in the box" thinking and
>admiration for authority - hence I switched to the humanities. True, their
>propensity for bullshitting, endless citations, and names dropping was
>quite irritating, but it was a much lesser evil than the fascist mentality
>of the engineering profession (although I still admire the engineers'
>ability of making material objects as opposed to humanities' paper
>pushing). And of course, the prospects for getting an academic job (= no
>bosses and factory discipline) was much greater. So here I am - farting
>in a chair at a prestigiuos university, having enough time to subscribe to
>listservs, not having to punch in and out - ain't life great?
>
>wojtek