tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-706934951863679787.post5341820119781850088..comments2023-06-02T04:54:07.811-04:00Comments on After Academe: Quotes of the Day from Inside Higher Ed Articlerecent Ph.D.http://www.blogger.com/profile/01076749808434578362noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-706934951863679787.post-77882075149364666702011-05-20T16:28:24.952-04:002011-05-20T16:28:24.952-04:00Right now, the U.S. system benefits from large num...Right now, the U.S. system benefits from large numbers of ADBs and PhDs who are willing to sell themselves short because they think they have no other options -- whether those options be going abroad to stay in academe or staying in the U.S. and leaving academe. <br /><br />That's why I think that those who choose not to pursue going abroad should walk away from contingent positions -- no matter how much they love teaching and no matter how passionate they are about their research.<br /><br />Would a mass exodus of contingent faculty have a major impact on improving the system? I don't know. I'd like to think so, because the alternative would be understaffed colleges and universities -- more and more students learning in larger and larger classes and online. I'd like to think that in such a scenario our society would get over its dumb obsession with cutting taxes and spending enough to start reinvesting in higher education.<br /><br />But what my "leave, leave, leave (unless you go abroad)" mantra comes down to is more a matter of rational self interest than anything else. So many of my adjunct colleagues -- in real life and in the blogosphere -- are just miserable. They stay in because "something better might come along," yet year after year after year, it never does. And it never will, because the longer they stay, the more they reaffirm the system's commitment to relying on people who are willing to work for less than they are worth. <br /><br />Staying, to me, means complicity with the system, even though, as an adjunct, you have no power to change it. Leaving, on the other hand, whether you go abroad for a faculty position or stay in the U.S. and do something else, releases you from that complicity. And, very few people I know love teaching so much that they wouldn't quit their adjunct gigs if they knew for sure they could earn more doing something else. People I know are genuinely afraid to walk away for a number of reasons, which is a mindset I'd like to change....but that's the subject for another entire post.recent Ph.D.https://www.blogger.com/profile/01076749808434578362noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-706934951863679787.post-13583606669630680782011-05-20T15:47:35.589-04:002011-05-20T15:47:35.589-04:00Well, of course not everybody will have to choose ...Well, of course not everybody will have to choose between leaving the US or leaving academia. But, I do not think the numbers will be enough to improve academia in the US anytime soon. If enough people leave the US then Africa and other places will no longer have a shortage. But, I think it is a viable option on the individual level now for people because so few people with PhDs and publications do want to live and work outside of of North America and Europe.J. Otto Pohlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07457089758142264049noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-706934951863679787.post-34723223141055438932011-05-20T11:00:46.793-04:002011-05-20T11:00:46.793-04:00Well, I can't speak for anyone else, but for m...Well, I can't speak for anyone else, but for me, it's not a simple choice between leaving academe and working as an academic abroad. <br /><br />What I'm trying to do (though it remains to be seen whether I will succeed) is carve out a place for myself here on the margins as an independent scholar -- such that I can pursue my own research and writing agenda (albeit perhaps at a slower pace than I might inside academe), live in a place I like a lot, and work at a stable, decently paying (relative to adjuncting) job. <br /><br />I do hope other recent Ph.D.s whose life circumstances are different from mine will walk out on their adjunct gigs and give Africa and other destinations a chance. If you've got nothing to lose, why not? Whether or not this will improve conditions in the U.S. depends on how many people are willing to leave -- either to go abroad to work as academics in more respectable circumstances or to leave academe altogether. The exodus would have to be large enough such that departments could not find enough people willing to teach their courses for an adjunct's wages and working conditions.<br /><br />Right now, too many people are more than willing -- which is why I keep saying, over and over again wherever and whenever I can, "leave, leave, leave." <br /><br />And, yes, I agree it is shameful that academics in a place like Ghana have better working conditions and relative pay than academics in the U.S. (or, for that matter, that a low level administrative position in the U.S., like the one I now have, offers better pay and working conditions than teaching undergraduates).recent Ph.D.https://www.blogger.com/profile/01076749808434578362noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-706934951863679787.post-86845111472529103642011-05-20T09:57:07.380-04:002011-05-20T09:57:07.380-04:00Given the choice between leaving academia and work...Given the choice between leaving academia and working as an academic abroad, I suspect a fair number of people will give Africa and other destinations a shot. I am not sure it will improve conditions in the US. But, it should be an embarassment that a country like Ghana offers academics better relative pay and work conditions than the US. After all the US much, much richer than Ghana.J. Otto Pohlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07457089758142264049noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-706934951863679787.post-7093972962313180292011-05-20T08:54:41.425-04:002011-05-20T08:54:41.425-04:00That's interesting. I won't be one of thos...That's interesting. I won't be one of those migrating (I've written elsewhere on the blog about my idiosyncratic reasons for limiting my job search by location even within the U.S.), but I hope other recent Ph.D.s will -- for the same reason I hope that those unwilling to leave the country will just leave academe, as I have. Eventually, the drain of talent will have an impact and conditions will have to improve. That's my theory anyway :)recent Ph.D.https://www.blogger.com/profile/01076749808434578362noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-706934951863679787.post-79466548352643598612011-05-20T08:01:19.062-04:002011-05-20T08:01:19.062-04:00The academic job market has been very bad in the U...The academic job market has been very bad in the US for a very long time. It is not good in a lot of other countries either. But, it is not universally bad in every country. In some places outside North America and Europe there are openings for people with PhDs. That is why I work in Africa and not the US. In Ghana the number of native PhDs is below the demand so they have recently hired a number of foreigners including myself. I suspect market forces will bring about more international migration of US citizens with PhDs in the near future.J. Otto Pohlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07457089758142264049noreply@blogger.com