[lbo-talk] The closing of American academia

Jordan Hayes jmhayes at j-o-r-d-a-n.com
Tue Aug 21 10:15:45 PDT 2012



>> PhD student: roughly an apprentice, no?
>
> The guild system analogy is inexact.

So "roughly" sounds okay to you? :)


> 1. Graduate students receive no mentorship from older/more
> experienced faculty members.

I'm sure lots of carpenters get bunk guidance from their masters too :)


> 2. The guild system implies a gradual emancipation/progress to
> master status ...

Well, no: once you become a journeyman, it's up to you to make the right connections that will lead to success in your chosen field. There's no guarantee of success, and no guarantee that you'll be "placed" with a good/kind/successful master. If you infer there is, that's on you; there's nothing that I've seen in guild system that guarantees it.


> ... but currently, a lot of degree holders enter the lectureship
> circuit and can never find a way to advance to a tenure-track
> position.

I know a lot of kids who are good basketball players who will never get a shot at the NBA.


> 3. Tenure track positions have been dwindling over the years
> and are currently under attack as a whole.

Not everyone can be the Queen's plumber ...


> 4. In my generation there were tuition/fee waivers for grad students
> after you finished class work. Then they were phased out. This was at
> UCB.

Yes, I agree: there ought to be subtle encouragement for students to ultimately leave :-)

---

I used to play poker with a bunch of PhD students at UCB, and one night one of them said, wistfully:

"You know, 10 years from now we'll look back on all this and say ... what the hell are we still doing here!?"


:-)

/jordan



More information about the lbo-talk mailing list