I don’t normally make posts that are just links to external content, especially if that content is not particularly philosophical. But the material conditions of the academic philosopher’s life are a topic that has come up here several times before, and probably will again soon enough. This poem, by the anonymous blogger Paraphernalian, expresses my own reasons for leaving faculty work, far more beautifully than I could have myself. My only change is that I don’t necessarily intend to leave the academy itself, just faculty work – there are plenty of jobs in academia (especially for PhD holders) where the market is not like this. But that’s a small point. If you have ever spoken the words “don’t give up” – or their equivalent – to a PhD holder who is considering non-faculty work, you must read this short poem. If you are trying to find a faculty position or will be soon, you should read this too, so that you may consider your other options. Leaving the faculty market is not about losing hope – it’s about regaining it. Read, and take heart:
“because: a manifesto”
21 Monday Mar 2011
Dear Amod,
I cannot but share your (and Paraphernalian’s) worries.
However, don’t you think (this is not a rhetoric question, I am really not sure about the answer) that the students one has the chance to meet are worth the whole hassle? And what about the hope that ‘change from within’ is easier to realise than ‘creating a whole different thing’? Last, what do you mean by jobs in the academia which are not faculty jobs?
yours elisa
Elisa, re students, it depends a lot. If one is teaching courses that are required for the curriculum, especially at a school with relatively unmotivated students, the majority of those students can often make the task feel even less worthwhile. There are always the few who are genuinely interested in what they’re learning, and they are a joy to teach, but in some cases they may not even make up for the other students, let alone the other difficulties one faces in the process.
Re the other issues: “change from within” requires that one be in a position to change things. Which those of us in untenured positions are not; those in the increasingly tenured positions have a vested interest in keeping things as they are. As for non-faculty jobs: I’ve been seeking jobs in instructional technology, where one helps faculty adapt new technologies to improve their teaching. There are also jobs in centres to help faculty with pedagogy or help students with writing; jobs running study-abroad programs and other student opportunities; jobs in student affairs where one helps out students in trouble; jobs as assistant deans and others who keep the university running. When I taught at Stonehill College I sought out people on campus who had PhDs but weren’t faculty, to see what they did, and I found quite a few. That’s very typical for an American campus; are European universities not the same way?
Jabali, your logic is flawed. Consider this sentence: “If one has pursued a certificate in the manual operation of elevators in order to become an operator of manual elevators, then it only makes sense to keep pursuing the goal of finding an elevator operator’s job even if one temporarily turns to other positions.” The first lesson of management school is to ignore sunk costs. What’s important is not the reasons for one’s past decisions, but rather the future.
As for community colleges and regional public universities: if one feels that teaching four or five courses every semester (for rather modest compensation) is what one wishes to do for the rest of one’s life, and one is willing to relocate far away to do it, then this is one option. I do not feel that way. But even if one did, even in regional 4/4 public universities, the odds of getting hired remain low. I applied to many such schools with a PhD from Harvard in hand, before the job market collapsed, and never once received a tenure-track offer.
Justin, I sincerely wish you good luck. You will need it.
Amod, I should have made it clear that I was assuming that one still has that goal of becoming a scholar-teacher. Of course, if the goal has changed, the prescription does not apply.
I grant that one could develop one’s scholarship outside the academy, but having done professional social work for a couple of years after completion of my PhD, I can say that the demands of a non-academic career eventually interfere with and even undermine any scholarly pursuits or goals one may have. They may even diminish one’s aptitude for the life of the mind.
For those wishing to lead a contemplative life with a reasonable measure of financial security, the Academy is still one of those few places which enables the fulfillment of that wish, provided, of course, you stay clear of the politics and administrator positions!
Anyone seeking a tenure-track faculty position better build up a record of teaching experience based on adjunct or part-time teaching or contractually limited teaching assignments, however exploitative they may be. In public universities and colleges, those who have a significant record of part-time teaching are given preference over those who have less or none.
Regardless of teaching load (teaching a couple of sections of the same course is not bad at all) and compensation (some of the community colleges and public universities have a similar pay scale and in some cases offer better terms than a few private colleges), the faculty option is good, and possibly the best, IF it is in accord with one’s Svabhava, or temperament and aptitude.
In the vein of the Gita, it is better to select an option compatible with one’s Svabhava even if it is not financially lucrative, prestigious, or status-enhancing, rather than an option alien to one’s Svabhava even if it is financially lucrative, prestigious, and status-enhancing.
My experience and observations have confirmed the wisdom of following this principle of doing things or pursuing goals in accordance with one’s Svabhava. In the long run, one avoids a great deal of dissatisfaction, frustration, and unhappiness, by following this principle in many areas of life including, and notably, career choice.
So IF your Svabhava is to pursue philosophical thinking, scholarly activities, etc., and share them with a few deserving individuals, whether students, colleagues, or other individuals, then you would be making a serious mistake to abandon the search for a faculty position because it offers, despite its growing challenges, one of the best opportunities for the flourishing of those tendencies constitutive of your Svabhava.
@Amod
“That’s very typical for an American campus; are European universities not the same way?”
No, not really (at least in the universities I know of). Unfortunately, faculty staff is usually *exploited* for tasks such as the ones you mention, too. Alternatively, secretaries who lack a higher education may take care of such staff.
In Italy, undergraduates tend to be more like US MA students (not because they are as good as US MA students, but because they tend to be very motivated) and less like school children, plus I never had to teach 5 courses per semester and hence probably fail to appreciate how hard it might be. Teaching is for me one of the most rewarding aspects of my life and I would rather give up much else than that.
“those in the increasingly tenured positions have a vested interest in keeping things as they are.” That’s sadly true. And it is even more upsetting when one sees one’s former friends becoming like that once they have achieved a tenure. But does this really imply that “change from within” is impossible? To name an example we already discussed (here), we all agree that conferences are boring. Hence, it should not be that hard to achieve the goal of an interesting conference. Could not the same apply to courses and exams? Or are they far too structured and “stiff” in the US?
Hi Amod (and Elisa and others),
I too share your worries a bit, but still hold an admittedly perhaps somewhat naive hope that everything will be okay for me. I’ve worked hard and caught a few lucky breaks thus far. And as Elisa mentions, the students have been amazing and the work overall has been amazing. So I’m hoping to continue the course.
On the other hand I’ve had one administrative job in academia and while I loved it in many ways, I taught me that the drudgery of administration is not for me.
Best – Justin
Some of the students one meets may well provide a good reason for leaving the teaching profession altogether! LOL
There is a crisis brewing in this country’s system of higher education. There are ongoing attempts to seriously and perhaps irreversibly roll back, by means of draconian budget cuts, the gains accumulated over many years in the public higher education system in all of the states in this country.
As a consequence, programs are being cut or eliminated and hiring gets frozen. This is going to swell the ranks of the applicants for faculty positions.
The advice I would give to anyone still seeking a faculty position is to expand the range of the types of institutions you want to teach at. Those with advanced degrees from prestigious or elite schools have an increasingly lower chance of finding a faculty position in the same type of institution they graduated from. The more selective you get the more formidable are the odds, especially in the short and middle term, of finding a faculty position. So, prospective applicants can improve their chances by also considering public universities and colleges, including community colleges. Some of these colleges already have faculty with PhD’s from Princeton and so on.
Having taught at both private and public universities and colleges, I think that teaching is just what it is and if you want to do it, there isn’t a significant difference these days, given the growing apathy toward learning and the life of the mind among the students in this country, between teaching at a private college or university and a public one.
If one has pursued a PhD in order to become a scholar-teacher, then it only makes sense to keep pursuing the goal of finding a faculty position even if one temporarily turns to jobs outside the academy.
The Arjuna syndrome must be resolutely overcome in this Battle of the Kurukshetra Academy!
Hmm-So I’d like to request all the ivy league folks to please ignore Jabali’s advice and keep applying to only the top jobs so there will be two or three positions left for the rest of us to fight over ;)
But in seriousness, Amod I love the poem. The cliched advice you hear professors throw around is to only go into academia if you can’t imagine doing anything else with your life. This seems like awful advice to me, since human powers of imagination are very limited compared to what’s possible. I think better advice is to only do this if you are not going to regret it, even if you don’t get a tenured job at the end of it. (And to get off the ride when that no longer applies).
I take humanities grad work (or adjuncting) to be somewhat like squatting in an abandoned flat so you can do the art that’s vitally imporant to you without paying rent. And it should just be a given that any time that situation is no longer acceptable to you, for any reason, you can move out of the flat.