The humanities are an easy target. Ever since the days of Sputnik politicians, educators and other talking heads have extolled the virtues of "mathandscience" as a way of helping us "get ahead of the competition" - whether this competition comes in the form of a space race with the USSR or in the technological expertise of India and east Asia. It is not a difficult argument to make, after all "mathandscience" seemingly produce "real world results" - the kinds of technologies and expertise that can fuel an economy. Humanities, on the other hand, are more difficult to defend. The argument can easily be made that the humanities produce no real world results. Things like literature and history don't produce technologies that can change the world economy.
Yet, the humanities should be defended. I don't know if I can say it much better than Mark Slouka did in a recent issue of Harper's.
It should come as no surprise that the tea bagging right wing has set their sights on the National Endowment for the Humanities. It should also come as no surprise that Fox News is providing a mouthpiece for their knuckle dragging, mouth breathing rants.
As Slouka points out in his article the right wing would love nothing more than to produce a pliant population that has no sense of creativity or history - no sense of what it means to be human. They rant and they rave about how the government is out to get them, yet they are all too happy to produce a generation that lacks the critical reasoning skills to discern when the government is out to get them and when it is not. All of their fear-mongering about "death panels" and H1N1 vaccines would fall on deaf ears in a population that had a good solid education in the humanities.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Monday, November 9, 2009
Michael Jackson was right - I am not alone!
Here are a couple of familiar sounding blogs.
The "phdequalsrisk" blog is from a scientist - I have never revealed my discipline - but let's just say "humanities." I always assumed that scientists had it made because being a scientist is an in demand profession as opposed to working the useless "humanities." Boy was I wrong!
When I began my PhD program (let's just say that the World Trade Center existed when this happened) there were no such things as blogs (that I knew of). In this day and age the information is out there - anyone who begins a PhD program without first reading blogs like these is in for a rude awakening.
If you are starting or considering a PhD program please, for the love of all that is good and holy, do some research. You won't regret it. Honest to blog.
The "phdequalsrisk" blog is from a scientist - I have never revealed my discipline - but let's just say "humanities." I always assumed that scientists had it made because being a scientist is an in demand profession as opposed to working the useless "humanities." Boy was I wrong!
When I began my PhD program (let's just say that the World Trade Center existed when this happened) there were no such things as blogs (that I knew of). In this day and age the information is out there - anyone who begins a PhD program without first reading blogs like these is in for a rude awakening.
If you are starting or considering a PhD program please, for the love of all that is good and holy, do some research. You won't regret it. Honest to blog.
November is the Cruelest Month
Is it November already? This is the month that most applications are due. Pretty soon search committees all over the nation will sift through hundreds of applications to narrow the field down to 10-20 candidates. Then they will invite these candidates to the national meeting of their disciplinary organizations. Candidates will be forced to pay their own ways to this meeting for the privilege of interviewing for a job that they only have a 5-10% chance of getting. What other career path has job candidates pay their own way to a fucking interview? Next they will narrow the 10-20 down to 3 or 4 on-campus interviews. Then a lucky soul will win the lottery - er, I mean get a job offer.
Search committees love this trick - they make their decisions right before Thanksgiving break - so job candidates will get a flood of e-mails the last day before Thanksgiving break either informing of their rejection or inviting to an interview (either way it's shitty news - either you are rejected or you have to spend money right before Christmas on flights and a hotel).
So here it is, November. I hate this time of year. I will check my e-mail and the job market wiki constantly - leading to an unhealthy obsession. This must be what hell is like.
Search committees love this trick - they make their decisions right before Thanksgiving break - so job candidates will get a flood of e-mails the last day before Thanksgiving break either informing of their rejection or inviting to an interview (either way it's shitty news - either you are rejected or you have to spend money right before Christmas on flights and a hotel).
So here it is, November. I hate this time of year. I will check my e-mail and the job market wiki constantly - leading to an unhealthy obsession. This must be what hell is like.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Fired Up!
A job was posted today that made my heart sing. It is in my (exact) field and it is (essentially) in my home town.
This happened to me last year - twice. Both times I came away empty handed. These rejections were what caused me to start this silly blog in the first place.
So I guess I need to be a bit more cautious here. I need to avoid getting my hopes up, because I have no idea about the politics of the particular department. Could be they never get funding and have to cancel the search. Could be they absolutely have to hire a woman. Could be that my research just does not fit their criteria. There are just too many factors at work here.
Still, I want this job - it would be perfect for me and for my family. It would probably make all this worthwhile.
So I need to not get my hopes up. Disappointment is sure to follow.
This happened to me last year - twice. Both times I came away empty handed. These rejections were what caused me to start this silly blog in the first place.
So I guess I need to be a bit more cautious here. I need to avoid getting my hopes up, because I have no idea about the politics of the particular department. Could be they never get funding and have to cancel the search. Could be they absolutely have to hire a woman. Could be that my research just does not fit their criteria. There are just too many factors at work here.
Still, I want this job - it would be perfect for me and for my family. It would probably make all this worthwhile.
So I need to not get my hopes up. Disappointment is sure to follow.
Monday, October 19, 2009
First rejection!!!!!
It's not even the end of October and I already have my first rejection of the job market year! I know that I was rejected for this job thanks to the job market wiki, which shows that several other people received requests for supplemental materials on Saturday. I did not, which means that I am out of the running.
This particular job was not a great fit for me - it fit in a broad sense, but it really was a secondary field for me and not a primary. So I can console myself with the knowledge that I was probably eliminated because I did not fit their primary criteria.
So here's the scorecard - so far I have applied for a grand total of five (5!) jobs - way way down from last year - and I have now been rejected for one of them. So that leaves four open applications. Things are looking grim.
In a month or so I should know where my career is headed - and chances are it will be headed nowhere. In the end it will come down to whether my employer will renew my contract for another year or not - and I have my doubts. Why, you ask? Well, I am a sabbatical replacement, and the person I replaced is due to come back next year, making me expendable.
I have already begun to compose my retirement letter in my head. I will post it here in a couple of months when it becomes official that I am not going to be hired anywhere. Unemployment, here I come!
Toodles!
This particular job was not a great fit for me - it fit in a broad sense, but it really was a secondary field for me and not a primary. So I can console myself with the knowledge that I was probably eliminated because I did not fit their primary criteria.
So here's the scorecard - so far I have applied for a grand total of five (5!) jobs - way way down from last year - and I have now been rejected for one of them. So that leaves four open applications. Things are looking grim.
In a month or so I should know where my career is headed - and chances are it will be headed nowhere. In the end it will come down to whether my employer will renew my contract for another year or not - and I have my doubts. Why, you ask? Well, I am a sabbatical replacement, and the person I replaced is due to come back next year, making me expendable.
I have already begun to compose my retirement letter in my head. I will post it here in a couple of months when it becomes official that I am not going to be hired anywhere. Unemployment, here I come!
Toodles!
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Job Market Wiki Arugments
I promised myself I would not do it again this year - but I can't seem to stop myself from posting on the academic job market wiki and getting into arguments with people. I shouldn't do it - emotions are running high these days and arguing only raises my blood pressure. I need some zen, now!
I ran into this same problem arguing politics on Facebook - only instead of arguing with strangers I was arguing with semi-strangers - people I hadn't seen since high school or college. I quickly realized that there was a reason I hadn't thought about these people in well over a decade. So I pretty much quit Facebook. It was liberating.
Should I quit the academic job market wiki? How else will I find people to bitch about the job market with?
I'm going to be so happy when this is all over. Either this year will end with a tenure track job or end with me in a new field. I'm looking forward to it.
BTW - I started a new file with this year's acknowledgment/rejection letters. Last year's is officially closed. I think this year's will be much thinner than last year's.
I ran into this same problem arguing politics on Facebook - only instead of arguing with strangers I was arguing with semi-strangers - people I hadn't seen since high school or college. I quickly realized that there was a reason I hadn't thought about these people in well over a decade. So I pretty much quit Facebook. It was liberating.
Should I quit the academic job market wiki? How else will I find people to bitch about the job market with?
I'm going to be so happy when this is all over. Either this year will end with a tenure track job or end with me in a new field. I'm looking forward to it.
BTW - I started a new file with this year's acknowledgment/rejection letters. Last year's is officially closed. I think this year's will be much thinner than last year's.
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
ABD Blues
In a recent discussion with a colleague who is very much in the same boat as me (on the job market with no guarantees beyond this year) they remarked that deserving a job actually has nothing to do with actually landing a job.
Let me be clear about something right away - I don't believe that I "deserve" anything. I'm not going to start shouting "not fair" and throw a temper tantrum. I am an adult and I understand that life is unfair, that there are people in the world much much worse off than I am.
But I do believe that I have at least earned the right to have guarantees beyond one year. I believe that I have worked hard over the years - teaching, publishing, moving across the fucking country for one year contracts, etc. I believe that I have done everything the right way - that there is not much more I can do at this point to prove to a potential employer that I am worthy of being hired. I feel I have paid my dues.
That's why it really pisses me off to see who actually does get jobs. I have colleagues at my current university that were hired directly out of grad school. I have seen hires for other jobs that were ABDs. I know why these people were hired - a combination of where they went to school (the old Harvard/Princeton/Yale cabal), their topic (if you study Asia or Islam you are guaranteed to get hired these days) and their gender.
Here's a story that kind of sums up what I see happening all around. Last year there was a job that I was quite keen to get. It was in my field (so there was no fudging the application), it was near my home town, and it was at a not very prestigious university in the state system of my home state (I went to another school in the state system which was not super-prestigious, but more so than this place, which was most people's safety school). I thought it was a perfect fit for me. I catered my letter to the place to show that I knew the history of the school - how since the 1960s it had gone from a feeder school, to a college, to a university and how I was excited to help it continue to grow. Now, I know that my feelings about how I fit are meaningless because it was up to the hiring committe to decide - but I thought I would at least land an interview. In the end I got nothing - not a second look, nothing (even though I had landed an interview with a much much more prestigious school in the same state system). I knew what was going on - when I showed the job to friends they said "wow, that might be a good job for you" then they looked at the department which trended to the old white dude demographic. Several people told me that unless I got a sex change there was no way in hell I would land that job. So I kind of expected it.
This weekend I went to a conference. I noticed that one of the presenters came from this university. So I went to her talk. It turns out that she is (still) ABD from a pretty prestigious university (not Ivy League, but pretty damn close). Her paper was good - I was very impressed - but I couldn't help but feel resentful. I understand that she was hired in large part because she is a) very bright with a promising topic and b) female. But did they have to hire an ABD? It is insulting to those of us who spend years paying our dues as second class citizens (adjuncts, visitors) to hire someone who is not even fucking finished yet. I can't help but feel that the deck is stacked against me - even though I do everything right - get good teaching reviews, publish, attend conferences, etc. - I'm not going to land a job because my topic is not trendy enough or because of my gender. That sucks. So let me be clear about the point of all of this - for those of you possibly considering entering this profession - this is not the kind of career where you will "earn" your way into a job. There is no putting in your time and doing things the right way. Either you have the right things going for you (gender, topic, school) or you don't. Plain and simple.
Anyway, none of this matters anymore. The job market seriously sucks this year - right now there are two, maybe three, jobs in my specific field - maybe a half dozen others that might be a broad fit for me. The odds (gender, topic, school) and the numbers (there will be hundreds of applications for each job) are stacked against me. So this will be my last year on the job market (unless my current employer gives me another 1 year contract - not likely). I refuse to move my family for another short term job - I always end up losing a ton of money in moves and I cannot go into further debt (thanks to my extortionate school loans). A year from now I am facing the possibility of unemployment, no health insurance and what? Bankruptcy maybe? I don't know.
Of course, I do need to change my attitude. I need to see this as an opportunity. An opportunity to get out of this fucking poisonous profession. Take a look at last year's job market wiki to get a sense of what I'm talking about. The venom people spew at each other on that thing is sickening. It is full of petty professional jealousies and slander. Take a look at the rateyourstudents blog - even the people with jobs are bitter and angry. Fuck this. I'm going to move on with my life, find a job with a steady paycheck, deal with the day to day bullshit, enjoy my family, and enjoy not moving every year. Life is too short - I'm rapidly approaching my mid-thirties. To quote Sgt. Murtoch, I'm too old for this shit. I'm too old to have my life on hold year in and year out. I'm too old for the petty jealousies and dick measuring that comes with this career. I'm too old to waste my time being jealous because some ABD landed a job that I wanted - even thought that job probably totally blows.
Let me be clear about something right away - I don't believe that I "deserve" anything. I'm not going to start shouting "not fair" and throw a temper tantrum. I am an adult and I understand that life is unfair, that there are people in the world much much worse off than I am.
But I do believe that I have at least earned the right to have guarantees beyond one year. I believe that I have worked hard over the years - teaching, publishing, moving across the fucking country for one year contracts, etc. I believe that I have done everything the right way - that there is not much more I can do at this point to prove to a potential employer that I am worthy of being hired. I feel I have paid my dues.
That's why it really pisses me off to see who actually does get jobs. I have colleagues at my current university that were hired directly out of grad school. I have seen hires for other jobs that were ABDs. I know why these people were hired - a combination of where they went to school (the old Harvard/Princeton/Yale cabal), their topic (if you study Asia or Islam you are guaranteed to get hired these days) and their gender.
Here's a story that kind of sums up what I see happening all around. Last year there was a job that I was quite keen to get. It was in my field (so there was no fudging the application), it was near my home town, and it was at a not very prestigious university in the state system of my home state (I went to another school in the state system which was not super-prestigious, but more so than this place, which was most people's safety school). I thought it was a perfect fit for me. I catered my letter to the place to show that I knew the history of the school - how since the 1960s it had gone from a feeder school, to a college, to a university and how I was excited to help it continue to grow. Now, I know that my feelings about how I fit are meaningless because it was up to the hiring committe to decide - but I thought I would at least land an interview. In the end I got nothing - not a second look, nothing (even though I had landed an interview with a much much more prestigious school in the same state system). I knew what was going on - when I showed the job to friends they said "wow, that might be a good job for you" then they looked at the department which trended to the old white dude demographic. Several people told me that unless I got a sex change there was no way in hell I would land that job. So I kind of expected it.
This weekend I went to a conference. I noticed that one of the presenters came from this university. So I went to her talk. It turns out that she is (still) ABD from a pretty prestigious university (not Ivy League, but pretty damn close). Her paper was good - I was very impressed - but I couldn't help but feel resentful. I understand that she was hired in large part because she is a) very bright with a promising topic and b) female. But did they have to hire an ABD? It is insulting to those of us who spend years paying our dues as second class citizens (adjuncts, visitors) to hire someone who is not even fucking finished yet. I can't help but feel that the deck is stacked against me - even though I do everything right - get good teaching reviews, publish, attend conferences, etc. - I'm not going to land a job because my topic is not trendy enough or because of my gender. That sucks. So let me be clear about the point of all of this - for those of you possibly considering entering this profession - this is not the kind of career where you will "earn" your way into a job. There is no putting in your time and doing things the right way. Either you have the right things going for you (gender, topic, school) or you don't. Plain and simple.
Anyway, none of this matters anymore. The job market seriously sucks this year - right now there are two, maybe three, jobs in my specific field - maybe a half dozen others that might be a broad fit for me. The odds (gender, topic, school) and the numbers (there will be hundreds of applications for each job) are stacked against me. So this will be my last year on the job market (unless my current employer gives me another 1 year contract - not likely). I refuse to move my family for another short term job - I always end up losing a ton of money in moves and I cannot go into further debt (thanks to my extortionate school loans). A year from now I am facing the possibility of unemployment, no health insurance and what? Bankruptcy maybe? I don't know.
Of course, I do need to change my attitude. I need to see this as an opportunity. An opportunity to get out of this fucking poisonous profession. Take a look at last year's job market wiki to get a sense of what I'm talking about. The venom people spew at each other on that thing is sickening. It is full of petty professional jealousies and slander. Take a look at the rateyourstudents blog - even the people with jobs are bitter and angry. Fuck this. I'm going to move on with my life, find a job with a steady paycheck, deal with the day to day bullshit, enjoy my family, and enjoy not moving every year. Life is too short - I'm rapidly approaching my mid-thirties. To quote Sgt. Murtoch, I'm too old for this shit. I'm too old to have my life on hold year in and year out. I'm too old for the petty jealousies and dick measuring that comes with this career. I'm too old to waste my time being jealous because some ABD landed a job that I wanted - even thought that job probably totally blows.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)