This post was raw and difficult to write, but I get this question every year and I think honesty is important. Does our country (and the world more generally) need humanistic scholars? I'd argue the answer is yes!
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This week on the blog: Should you go to graduate school - more specifically, should you go to graduate school in one of the academic (rather than professional) disciplines of the humanities? I love the humanities, but I'm sorry to say the answer is no.https://acoup.blog/2021/10/01/collections-so-you-want-to-go-to-grad-school-in-the-academic-humanities/ …
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But we can't ask students to spend the next 7 years living within shouting range of the poverty line in high costs towns while delaying life milestones working 80 hour weeks under conditions that induce anxiety/depression at 6 times the rate of the general population...
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...all to train for a job that mostly likely does exist! I said this in the post but I also want to reiterate it here: this isn't an overproduction problem (PhDs granted per-year in history have been flat for two decades).
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And it isn't a demand problem. My classes fill! College enrollments keep rising! But universities are systematically transferring resources away from instruction and towards amenities and administration. I wrote about it here:https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/08/why-state-universities-have-no-other-choice-but-to-reopen/615565/ …
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They are also systematically transferring resources away from the humanities, which are inexpensive to teach on a per-student basis, to STEM, which is very expensive to teach on a per-student basis.
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The grad school experience needs to be improved in a lot of ways (better mental health resources would be a start) but its all pointless of the jobs it is training for increasingly don't exist - or rather exist in the form of underpaid, overworked adjuncts.
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Unfortunately, I think what we are seeing is a process where the humanities are re-aristocratified, made inaccessible for all but the wealthy. And that's tragic, because the humanities are important! But it also *is* and we should be honest about it.https://acoup.blog/2020/07/03/collections-the-practical-case-on-why-we-need-the-humanities/ …
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In any event, between the bad job prospects, high rates of mental illness, high stress and terrible pay, etc. ... I don't think I'd recommend anyone pursue graduate studies in the humanities, unless you are already rich and just want to kill time.https://acoup.blog/2021/10/01/collections-so-you-want-to-go-to-grad-school-in-the-academic-humanities/ …
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Uusi keskustelu -
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I don't think the answer is "no" for everyone, but everyone should be aware of what's in the essay, and love their topic enough to go in clear-eyed
Kiitos. Käytämme tätä aikajanasi parantamiseen. KumoaKumoa
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Tämä twiitti ei ole saatavilla.
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In the defense of professors, as I noted most professors would prefer their grad students be far better funded and academic hiring be much more robust. What they lack if the power to do anything about it. Not that most regularly exercise what power they have, mind.
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