The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

More Good Advice

Posted on | February 18, 2015 | 9 Comments

Walter Russell Mead:

Lots of tenured professors want to believe that all is well in a university system that works pretty well for them. But as it exists now, the Ph.D. system in this country urgently needs to be pruned back — especially in the social sciences and the humanities. . . .
Tenure track jobs are getting harder, not easier to find. . . .
For millennials, some important advice: If you can’t get into a top Ph.D. program, you should seriously rethink your life plan. Getting a subprime Ph.D. is one of the surest ways to accumulate debt and unhappiness, leaving you bitter and poor. The top schools will probably be fine, but the Grim Reaper is headed toward some second- and third-tier Ph.D. programs near you, and he’s moving faster than you think.

Read the whole thing.

 

Category: Education

Comments

9 Responses to “More Good Advice”

  1. Evi L. Bloggerlady
    February 18th, 2015 @ 7:22 pm

    There is this lawschool professor who wrote a book…

  2. More Good Advice | That Mr. G Guy's Blog
    February 18th, 2015 @ 8:52 pm

    […] More Good Advice. […]

  3. M. Thompson
    February 18th, 2015 @ 9:25 pm

    I might end up with an MBA, but I don’t see going beyond that.

  4. Adobe_Walls
    February 18th, 2015 @ 11:08 pm

    Student debt is killing potential new business start ups.

    Bill Whittle explains.
    http://www.truthrevolt.org/videos/bill-whittle-road-hell

  5. Jim R
    February 19th, 2015 @ 12:28 am

    Perhaps I’m a bit of a heretic, but a PhD in anything but STEM is a grossly overrated degree. Don’t get me wrong: I respect education. However, I’ve known (even in STEM) people with doctorates who were absolute dimwits, who clearly got their degrees simply because they had the willpower – and it don’t take much – to jump through the necessary hoops, show up, and grind out a dissertation that could barely pass muster.

    Instead of encouraging kids to get PhDs in Angry Womyn’s Studies or the Poetry of Star Trek or whatever, why are we not encouraging more people to get a simple bachelors degree in engineering or physics or chemistry? For that matter, why don’t we encourage kids to learn a useful trade? Have we gotten so snobbish that a BA in Underwater Basket Weaving is preferable to getting a license to be an electrician, or learning to weld, or even drive a truck?

    I hope that Reynolds is right, and that the “higher education bubble” IS getting ready to burst. We’re saddling generations of Americans with huge amounts of debt in exchange for not much prospect of a job that will pay their bills, much less increase the wealth of the country. This needs to stop.

  6. RKae
    February 19th, 2015 @ 12:55 am

    Man! That’s a BIG one with me!

    We need electricians, plumbers, welders, etc.

    My advice to America is: Instead of wondering how we can get EVERY kid into college, how ’bout we stop looking down our noses at people who don’t go to college?

  7. Thane_Eichenauer
    February 19th, 2015 @ 1:45 am

    Does it really matter what some snob thinks of plumbers? They are still going to pay the plumber’s bill no ifs ands or buts.
    http://amzn.com/1467978302

  8. Dana
    February 19th, 2015 @ 12:09 pm

    They are still going to pay the plumber’s bill no ifs ands or butts.

    FTFY

  9. Dana
    February 19th, 2015 @ 12:13 pm

    When the furnace craps out and it’s 273º Kelvin outside, you can either burn your diploma or call the working-class repairman.