Caveat emptor

[Everett, Daniel]

Sebastian,

I think that the joy of doing the PhD fades for people when they see what they have received in exchange for it.

On the one hand, there  is this positive article that agrees with you: http://www.psmag.com/education/why-you-should-go-to-graduate-school-in-the-humanities-59821/

But it sidesteps the main issues. And it in effect admits that we have always admitted too many.

A more realistic piece: http://www.kellimarshall.net/teaching-academia/phd-false-hope/

And yet another popular-level blog: http://100rsns.blogspot.com/2011/04/55-there-are-too-many-phds.html

The main observation for me, however, is the adjunct professor situation. And that is what happens to too large a number of bright young PhDs in the humanities.

-- Dan

On Sep 17, 2013, at 5:59 AM, Sebastian Nordhoff wrote:

> On Mon, 16 Sep 2013 18:59:24 +0200, Everett, Daniel <DEVERETT at bentley.edu> wrote:
> 
>> I am posting this because linguistics is one of the disciplines I think needs to consider this seriously. There are too many academics in the liberal arts with no chance of full-time, secure employment in the area in which they have done their PhD.
> 
> I might note that there are job possibilities outside of "the area where they have done their PhD". Getting a PhD in Typology does not necessarily mean that the only career opportunities are within the, indeed restricted, field of academic linguistics.
> Best wishes
> Sebastian