[Moderator's note: Followups set to sci.research.careers, which seems
to be the most appropriate group for this thread. -TB]
S. Perez, if I followed the quote correctly, brings up something very
similar to what I've argued with Dave Jensen here on SRC for years now. DJ
is not a scientist, never was, and never will be, but he's out there,
affiliated with _Science_ and _Nextwave_ trying to "sell" all kinds of
alternatives to science jobs, all kinds of "networking past the H/R
departments," and "the power of positive thinking." Make some notes: "the
power of positive thinking" is not the same as "the guarantee of positive
thinking." The former belongs in church services. The later is "it does
not compute." The reason for bringing this up is to point out that DJ
"networked" himself into a position of accepted authority and it all
probably benefits HIS career a lot more than most of the people who are
going to _Science_ or _Nextwave_ for what else to do now that they have
spent 5-10 years of their life and have much poorer prospects for getting
their lives started than if they never got the PhD to begin with (that is
because, with the PhD, they are automatically "overqualified" for most
other jobs and almost no one else will hire them).
The career situation is very complex and yet the "persuasibility" of
arguments, and the "belief" of young people that "you need a PhD (or X) to
do research (or Y)" is somehow transferred into the belief that "if I get
a PhD, then I'll do a research career."
Most institutions of higher learning understand very well that they are
really businesses and their job is really to keep the seats in the
classroom warm and keep the lab benches free of accumulated dust. Faculty
are not hired to do research or carry out other scholarly study but to be
fundraisers in an operation that some people, including me, call "money
harvesting." Being that they offer a degree, or X years of postdoc
experience, means that they are exempt from any guarantee or warranty of
what you can do with it afterwards and there are no laws that say they
have to disclose your poor prospects. Its quite hilarious to me that a
person going out, in most states, to buy a used car or a house, has more
consumer protection laws, warranties, & guarantees on his/her side than an
altruistic and enthusiastic and dedicated new graduate student who is
committed to a decade of preparation.
I do not say the above because I am happy with the situation. What I say
above IS actually the case and any faculty/staff person who is hiring a
postdoc or accepting a graduate student who is honorable will say that the
situation for the future is terrible except in a small number of areas and
very few people can predict far in advance what those will be.
Art Sowers
-------------------------------------------------------
Written in the public interest, the essays on
"Contemporary Problems in Science Jobs" are located at:
http://www.access.digex.net/~arthures/homepage.htm
hit stats: http://www.access.digex.net/~arthures/.stats
Snail mail adr to me: P.O.Box 489, Georgetown, DE 19947
Email: arthures at access.digex.net
My "home" newsgroup: sci.research.careers
-------------------------------------------------------
=== no change to below, included for reference and context ====
[Moderator's note: Entire text of quoted article, which seems
to include the entire text of the *previous* article, deleted.
Please quote judiciously. -TB]
