Education Improves Your Chances (and other myths of our generation)

Anonymous said...

This is yet another reason to avoid law school. If you are a 22 year old with zero debt, you have the dignity that comes from knowing you don't owe anyone anything.

Why ruin that by taking on a bunch of debt?

JANUARY 10, 2012 4:09 PM

 Anonymous said...

22 year olds don't think that way.....they are constantly sold the education improves your chances myth.

(from LawProf's "Interesting Piece of Evidence" comments)

-----------------------------------------------

      Anonymous said...

REALIST:

As an undergrad engineering major, I interned at a industrial research lab. My boss had a PhD and grumbled that all of the decisions about what he got to research were made by his boss, who had a MBA. That insight led me to earn my own MBA after engineering school.

While I was in my MBA program, our economics professor was explaining to us the concept of opportunity cost. He mentioned that those students who pursued a PhD in economics would never make the same money as the MBA students. Which prompted me to ask in class, "So the Economic PhD's actually failed to understand economics". My comment did not endear me to him.

Many of us working in industry have MS or MBA's that lead to well paying jobs across a wide assortment of careers. If you're not happy in your graduate program, take a look around you and see what opportunities may be awaiting you.

I still enjoy hitting my public library weekly to read up on my interests in history, culture, politics, science, etc. It's more fun, because it's unrelated to my job.

I now have a daughter in college, and what I told her was "If it's fun to do, they're not going to pay you much to do it."

January 6, 2012 11:42 AM

Pointless Credentials said...

I recently rethought our North American obsession with credentials when I saw this video about tribal people learning how to do dentistry in under two weeks.

http://itecusa.org/i-dent-video.html

Some people just have a natural ability to do things. Some countries don't seem to be so obsessed with the sheepskin on the wall.

January 7, 2012 6:32 AM

STEM Doctor said...

The politicians are still operating under the delusion that everyone must go to college. If this actually happens, I'm sure that teaching those introductory composition courses is going to become even more of a thrill for the English graduate students.

Anonymous said...

This reason points to a reality that is lost on most middle-class people with academic aspirations. 

It's hard for them to wrap their brains around the fact that their high school math teachers who eat tuna sandwiches in the teacher's lounge and drive beat-up cars to work every day could possibly be living more comfortably than someone with "professor" in their job title.

It does not compute.

In their minds, professors are in the upper middle class, drive European cars, live in the nice part of town, hobnob with other people who "matter," vacation abroad, have season tickets to the ballet, etc.

Even grad students buried up to their eyeballs in their dissertations cling to this idea. They almost have to believe it to keep them going.

When reality sets in, and you find yourself envying your old teachers with their tuna sandwiches (on whom you once looked with a certain measure of contempt), you realize how hoodwinked you've been.

January 4, 2012 9:27 AM

(From 100 Reasons Not to Go to Grad Schools' "75. You can make more money as a schoolteacher" comments)

Footnotes

In light of my last post, I must clear up a few things.

I am aware that the professions I examined the most (professors and lawyers) include many people with happy, healthy families. The problem is, these professionals were all born 20 to 40 years ago. I'll be a graduate entering today's disastrous economy and job market. Had I been born years earlier, I may very well have taken on the professorial or law track. It neither would have been as much of a financial risk, nor would it have put my goal of having a happy family in jeopardy. Unfortunately, these professions have truly become reserved for the leisure/upper class (and the incredibly lucky) and are no longer (relatively) risk-free means of scaling up the social ladder for the hardworking middle class. When you get out of school, hard work alone is just not enough.

Plus, the divorce rate for lawyers of these past generations has always been notoriously high.

I used to think that it would be beneath myself to take on less "prestigious," more common jobs. I used to look at my part-time job supervisors with snobbish elitism, saying to myself, "I'll never do these simple things for a career." I wasn't alone in this thinking--it's characteristic of my generation (see 5 Ways We Ruined the Occupy Wall Street Generation). Now I am noticing that these people lead relatively stress-free lives, and many of them have families. Furthermore, their jobs are nothing to be "ashamed" of (see Most Underrated Jobs of 2011). All occupations contribute to the functioning of our society in some form or another. It is many times the rich and "prestigious" who corrupt that functioning...

I am coming to terms with the sad reality that my majors (religion and East Asian studies) are not very well-valued in today's capitalist society obsessed with global competitiveness (this is emblazoned on the U.S. Department of Education's mission statement: "to promote student achievement and preparation for global competitiveness by fostering educational excellence and ensuring equal access"). If grad school, seminary or the translating field are not viable options for me, my BA is nothing more than a generic testament of my competence. (though teaching is not completely out the window for me, and I will talk about that later). A BA is valuable and I'm quite happy that I'll be earning one in a few months, but I must be open to alternative career choices that allow me to

1) live a comfortable life, and
2) raise a family reasonably well (time- and money-wise).

Granted, I am not regretting my decision to major in what I wanted to because I have grown, matured, learned a lot, have a much more open mind now, and wouldn't have met such wonderful people--think, not only would my professors have changed, but also my classes, classmates, and very dear friends.

I am also not discarding all my other interests. I also ideally want this career to be intellectually challenging, stimulating, respectable (though doesn't need to be the iconic elite job), isn't too ethically questionable (and so I'd really like to avoid corporations), and tests my abilities to a high degree.

Plus, I'm certainly open to forms of entrepreneurship.  An older coworker of mine told me that the people who tend to be happiest with their jobs are those who are their own bosses. They make the most out of their own talents and work on their own schedules, oftentimes in their own homes (or at least their own establishments). That's great stuff. G. Stoyalrov II, the guy whose YouTube video I linked in an earlier post on reasons not to pursue a Ph.D., advocates this himself, and from his profile and prolific online presence, it seems he's doing quite well. Entrepreneurship is risky business, too, but it is something I'm willing to pursue on the side as I become more financially independent with a stable career.

I'm stil figuring out what career would be suitable for me given these guidelines, but I have an idea or two and will talk about them in a post to come.

Self-assessment, part 1: Grad School?

[This will be a three-part series of posts.]

Apologies for the freeze in blog entries. I'll need to figure out how to squeeze in time during school to do this because I really like writing entries. For now, I'll take advantage of my winter break to get back up to speed.

I've been home for three days, and while I ensure myself much relaxation, I guess you can say I find a lot of "fun" in researching options for my future. I don't find this as a duty or an assignment; it naturally comes out of my nature of being incredibly risk-averse and loving research.

I've firmly established that I will not go to an advanced-degree school right after college. After much online research and discussions with alums and professors, I know that real-world work experience will help me. I can save up more money, build my resume with experience, network, and think more seriously about whether I want to go back to school, what kind of school I want to go to, when, and why.

This is especially good advice for humanities and social sciences (from here on out, HUMN/SOSC) students. For engineering and natural sciences students, grad school is still a wonderful thing to pursue: while no grad school decision guarantees a person a higher-paid and more prestigious job that one will enjoy, it seems that the majority of these folks seem to be in good standing. They also have more funding given to them as they are still in grad school. Debating between a master's and a Ph.D. may be worth reconsidering for even this cohort (see Infographic on the Costs of Going to Grad School). Again, this cohort would do well to also explore the rest of my post since NIH/NSF grants are starting to dwindle.

For people like me, however, grad school is especially becoming more and more of a really stupid decision. Just take a look at these links:

"Adulthood waits."

100 Reasons NOT to Go to Grad School: it's only up to the 70s at this point, but it's quite a vast and eye-opening blog. It also has links to other sites of similar flavor.

The disposable academic: Why doing a PhD is often a waste of time: from one of my favorite sources, the Economist.

Articles from The Chronicle of Higher Education:

So You Want to Go to Grad School?: by Thomas H. Benton. It's a pretty good summary of the demerits of grad school for HUMN/SOSC. Keep in mind that this man recognizes he is one of the "lucky few" English Ph.D.'s in a tenure-track position, but he writes these articles to warn people before investing in grad school to make informed decisions.

Is Graduate School a Cult?: also by Thomas H. Benton. My religion pundit self will refrain from commenting on the sad use of the word "cult" here, but nonetheless, it's an interesting read.

So You Want to Get a Ph.D. in the Humanities: alright, I gotta admit... The girl sounds scarily like me, like the mentality I have had for a long time about why I would want to go to grad school. The feeling echoes a comment in the next link (and here, I agree that it's NOT funny because it's so true).

"So You Want to Get a Ph.D. in the Humanities: 9 Years Later": also by Thomas H. Benton. Read the comments too. One of them says something like, "It's too true to even be funny." Fortunately, it's funny for me since I haven't leapt into a Ph.D. program (yet?).

The Big Lie of the "Life of the Mind": " She was the best student her adviser had ever seen (or so he said); it seemed like a dream when she was admitted to a distinguished doctoral program; she worked so hard for so long; she won almost every prize; she published several essays; she became fully identified with the academic life; even distancing herself from her less educated family. For all of those reasons, she continues as an adjunct who qualifies for food stamps, increasingly isolating herself to avoid feelings of being judged. Her students have no idea that she is a prisoner of the graduate-school poverty trap. The consolations of teaching are fewer than she ever imagined. " This article speaks to me the most.

A Letter From a Graduate Student in the Humanities: this is written by an English Ph.D. candidate who responds to Thomas H. Benton and other doomsday writers of grad school with pleas for solutions for grad students and Ph.D.'s who are struggling with finding a job inside and outside academe.  

You can also do a quick Google search with keywords such as, "grad school, should I go to, costs of..."

-----------------

But first there is the question: why graduate school? Let's be honest, Jasna. Well, shamelessly put...

• I love school and learning. For much of my life I have been in this environment and could not have imagined myself anywhere else. I love intellectual challenges; I want that "life of the mind."
• I want prestige. Because I have a very high GPA, great relationships with my professors, and go to a reputable university, I feel entitled to get an advanced degree such as a Ph.D. as a tangible measurement of my self-worth. I am egotistic. Furthermore, these credentials mold me as an exemplary applicant for graduate school.
• I love researching and coming up with new ideas.
• I want to surround myself with other intellectuals. I love stimulating discussions and people who have high intellectual capacities like me.
• I love teaching and counseling. 
• All of the above said, I would incredibly love the idea of being a tenure-track professor. In the ideal situation, I will be my own boss, get to research and write about what I love, inspire young minds, counsel these young minds, have great benefits for both myself and my kids (free education!), and be called "Professor [Marie]" or "Dr. [Marie]." Wouldn't that be fancy? Plus, many of my favorite people are professors, and it is natural for me to want to be like them.
• I am graduating with a humanities degree. There is no other direct path for me to take with a religion and East Asian studies degree, other than to teach at the grade school level or go to a seminary. And hell no, I'm not going to any seminary (though I would like to teach grade school for some time).
• I am pressured by my family and friends to get an advanced degree. This is similar to the prestige bullet point. Because I have been known as an intelligent and continuously successful student, my loved ones expect me to get a prestigious, elite job that requires great intellect and all that crap. And if you know me well, I hate ruining people's expectations; I love going beyond people's expectations. 
• This pressure is further hindered by the fact that I am a first-generation immigrant. I have had this drilled into my head that my parents went through shit tons of difficulty and brought my brother and me to America for all the opportunities it has, for us to have a better life. Underlying all this sincerity is the expectation of doing "better" than my parents because of my greater opportunities here than in our home country. My brother is finishing med school to become a doctor; it's only expected that I get a Ph.D. or J.D. Otherwise, I feel that I am wasting the gift my parents gave me in being able to live here. I feel inadequate compared to my brother and am letting my parents down.

I don't mean to brag. I just mean to be frank of my elitism and subsequent insecurity. And the truth is, I know that graduate students and freshly minted Ph.D.'s think just like me in these regards.

But the other truth is, graduate school is a long, brutal, and expensive ordeal that in many situations does not involve much fruitful, intellectually curious discussion. It's cut-throat competitive during and after for those rare tenure-track jobs and insecure, slave-labor-like adjunct positions. And if you find yourself not getting either of those things (or you're dissatisfied with wandering the country as an adjunct), you'll in many ways be seen as overqualified or just plain inexperienced for jobs outside of academe.  

[See Occupy Wall Street for even more people who feel entitled. Some of them even "only" have bachelor's, though others also have Ph.D's.]

So, here are the majority of my concerns with grad school. I have one other major concern, but I'll leave that with the rest of my concluding thoughts to the third and final part of this Self-Assessment series.