more good news on the dead end of academic jobs

Yes, the title is sarcastic.

I stumbled onto a funny and insightful article on the not-so-bright present and future of a career in academia, “Academia and the people without jobs,” by “anthropologist, writer, debtor” Ryan Anderson.

Here’s a taste:

The reality is this: maybe we don’t want to accept reality. Maybe we simply don’t want to admit how bad things are. We don’t want to acknowledge that our prized possession—higher education—has run off the rails. We tell ourselves that the institution of higher ed is still doing fine, thank you very much. But it’s not. Imagine applying for graduate school and getting an acceptance letter that actually told you how it is in grad school:

Dear Esteemed Applicant,

We, the faculty at the University of the Real World, want to formally congratulate you and inform you that you have been accepted into our doctoral program. You will be provided funding, but unless you have a lot of financial resources, you’re more than likely going to end up with debilitating debt. Your living costs and other expenses may be overwhelming, so you’ll need credit cards and student loans to shore up your finances. We cannot guarantee any sort of employment after you spend 5-10 years of your life working your ass off in our program. In fact, getting a job in academia is beyond a long shot for most people. But hey, you could get lucky. Regardless, we’re still training students as if it’s still the 1960s. But don’t despair—you might be able to land an adjunct gig. Welcome aboard. Please pay your tuition promptly or you will not be able to register for classes. We accept Visa, Mastercard, and American Express.

Best,

Faculty of URW

I’ve written about this pressing issue a few times before (e.g., see here, here, and here), and I’m still getting hate–or at least extremely disgruntled but also thankful–emails about those posts. But all kidding aside, as Anderson notes here, we can’t keep going as if it’s the 1960s. I wish I had a good answer.