
Why Haven't Humanities Ph.D. Programs Collapsed? - jseliger
http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/09/why-havent-humanities-phd-programs-collapsed/279733/
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nikatwork
University used to be a place to further one's intellect and expand one's
mind. Now they are a sausage factory where one is barcoded and hopes to be
sold for a pretty penny.

When the ancient Greeks created the foundations of modern mathematics and
philosophy by drawing with a stick in the sand, they weren't looking to
"totally pwn the quant market with this new algo brocrates!"

This article asks the wrong question. Ask instead, "Why does modern Western
society place no value on learning that cannot be instantly monetized?"

------
PeterWhittaker
Because different people have different motivations.

People who are technically minded with a good grasp of logic and a desire to
make and break things and who want a job study CS and get CS jobs (or just do
CS and get CS jobs).

Those same people, with slightly better math and no inkling of the job market
study physics. Some of them stay in physics - and some, like me, move into IT
then security, and just keep moving, having a great life all the way through.

Those same people, with even better math and less make/break study math and
some stay there and some become actuaries (what they intended all along) and
some go into medicine (because math is one of the easiest science degrees to
get, if you're good at math, no labs, so it's a pretty good pre-med).

Same group, less math, more make/break: Chemists.

And so and so on and so on.

I took physics. Because I loved it and because it was super tough. Job
prospects? Whatever. Fell out of love, did a little philosophy and some CS,
translated that into a 25 year IT Security career, last dozen as a consultant,
work when I want, do some acting, have a psychology exam next week....

tl;dr? The author had it right in the first bullet: These people study what
they love and the rest be damned. They are not thinking jobs and as long as
analysts have only that material mindset they will never get it. They are
thinking love. Some people survive on that love, some thrive on it, some crash
into despair, and some of them move on. That's life.

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jseliger
I left this as a comment on _The Atlantic_ but think it relevant here too:

 _First, arts and humanities students aren 't necessarily the most career-
minded or pragmatic individuals; they go to school to study what they love,
then hope for the best._

This is an important point. I'm an ABD in English lit at the University of
Arizona, and I noticed that most of my classmates, prior to enrolling, were
either straight out of undergrad or another grad program, or had been working
somewhat marginal jobs at bookstores, coffeeshops, and what not presumably for
around $10 / hour. The U of A grad stipend pays about $20 / hour. That's still
not a huge amount, given that it ranges from $14K – $ 17K or so, but
supplemented with random work it's not insanely terrible.

My reading is that many humanities grad students view grad school as a lottery
ticket.

I've written in more depth about "What you should know BEFORE you start grad
school in English Literature: The economic, financial, and opportunity costs"
([https://jseliger.wordpress.com/2012/05/22/what-you-should-
kn...](https://jseliger.wordpress.com/2012/05/22/what-you-should-know-before-
you-start-grad-school-in-english-literature-the-economic-financial-and-
opportunity-costs/)), but innumerable essays and posts like mind appear to
have had little impact on the numbers.

~~~
cglee
Off topic, but how do you attend Arizona when you're in NYC? Is that a special
program they have?

~~~
jseliger
Good point! I moved to NYC for love and am writing my diss here when I'm not
wasting time on the Internet (like now), or doing real work-for-money work.

