On Wed, 10 Jan 2001, Miguel Roig wrote:
> Tipsters, I strongly encourage you to read the following article in the
> Chronicle which concerns the following:
>
> Are too many of the best new psychology Ph.D.'s taking jobs in industry rather
> than in academe? How should Ph.D. programs respond to the increased interest of
> their graduate students in working for industry?
>
I too found this article interesting. I'm a PhD. candidate, planning to
graduate in May 2002. I very much want an academic career, and I think I'm
talented and willing to work hard--but I refuse to devote every scrap of
spare time working, to do research on topics not because I'm genuinely
interested in them, but because they can generate quick publications (see
this article in the Chronicle on the tenure bar getting higher and higher,
and the effect on new professors:
http://www.chronicle.com/free/v47/i17/17a01201.htm), disrupt my
relationships by frequent moves, and generally accept a low quality of
life. Can I still make it as a professor without making these sacrifices?
Maybe, if I'm lucky. If not I'll accept a career in academic
administration (which is what I currently do, as the stipends paid to
teaching fellows and research assistants don't meet the cost of living in
Boston), or in consulting, media relations or high school teaching as an
acceptable second-best.
I'm not after stock options or a fabulous salary--but I am after the
freedom to live the life of the mind, pretentious though that may sound,
and I find myself wondering if that can best be done in academia. I meet
far too many professors who have read little if anything outside their
field and claim that they're too busy to read novels. I love college
teaching--I've never been as good at anything else in my life as I am at
that, and it's the most wonderful thing I've ever done--but I just don't
have it in me to sacrifice Everything Else for the One True Thing. If
academia requires that choice, I'll say "their loss," know in my heart
that it's also mine, and take work elsewhere.
If it's academic psychology and nothing else, or Microsoft and time for
Shakespeare, then good morning, Redmond.
Robin
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Robin Pearce "The wit of a graduate student is like champagne.
Boston University Canadian champagne."
[EMAIL PROTECTED] --Robertson Davies
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