Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Pessimism in Academia

After reading this rather cynical post post by a professor who discourages students from pursuing doctoral programs in the humanities, I wonder if starting any degree later in life negate any other practical reasons for obtaining even an undergraduate degree. What are the myriad reasons someone might obtain a degree in the humanities? Is it necessary that obtaining any and all degrees be directly related to one's career? I would hazard a guess that some people might be okay with not landing a tenure-track position, but still desire a Ph.D.

Ultimately I view this fellow's blog post as short-sighted and close-minded, as well as pessimistic. One does need to understand that a degree never guarantees a job, but that should not necessarily prohibit one from getting the degree.

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