The Chronicle of Higher Education is the primary professional publication for higher education in the United states. Thomas Benton, one of its best writers, recently took up the question of how he advises his undergraduate students who are considering graduate school in the Liberal Arts.
The money paragraph:
“Nearly every humanities field was already desperately competitive, with hundreds of applications from qualified candidates for every tenure-track position. Now the situation is becoming even worse. For example, the American Historical Association's job listings are down 15 percent and the Modern Language's listings are down 21 percent, the steepest annual decline ever recorded. Apparently, many already-launched candidate searches are being called off; some responsible observers expect that hiring may be down 40 percent this year.
What is 40 percent worse than desperate?”
His advice to his students? “Just Don’t Go!”
About Me
- Taran
- This blog hits on my interests in family, faith, and work, (basically in that order)
2 comments:
I can vouch for the minus 40% at the MLA. It makes be feel better, anyway...
Well, judging from the direction the economy is heading, even a tenure track job isn't the security that it used to be.
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