The Cranky Professor

I noticed another link on the CHE's website, to an article titled "Job Outlook for Historians Grows Poorer." As a historian, I once harbored modest remorse that I wasn't in academe; that headline, together with the article to which you linked, have accelerated the erosion of that concern! I do rather enjoy having paying work....

As someone who is in the process of applying to graduate school in the humanities (the Horror!), I have been reading quite a few articles like this. I was lucky to have professors who were very upfront about the hardships associated with PhD employment (and I'm pretty realistic about my chances of even getting in to grad school.) I certainly think undergrads should be aware of the dangers.

However...here is where I disagree with Benton/Pannapacker, and his characterizatons of students looking toward graduate study. I don't need graduate school to feel "validated." I do not find the real-world "frightening". I have been workin' retail since graduating, which is not what I want to do forever, but it does allow me to sleep more and cook real food (and read for fun!) which is something that grad school would probably eliminate. I *certainly* do not meet any of his criteria for people who can "safely undertake doctoral education in the humanities"--not independently wealthy, not partnered, and not well-connected.

So, why do it? Well, call me young and naive (Benton/Pannapacker did), but I miss that feeling of triumpth when you write a great sentence, or learn something stunning. I want to have a job that I won't hate, most of the time. And I would really, really like to believe that adjuncts stick with it, through all the budget cuts and horribleness, because they want to make a difference. For what it's worth, my professors made a difference to me.