Academia is a pyramid scheme. There is no changing my mind.
Yep.
I’m convinced it’s a system designed to take advantage of young impressionable people who don’t know any better while keeping ‘expertise’ and ‘knowledge’ behind a paywall.
Nothing uni has taught me could not have been learnt by myself reading papers and following YouTube.
Except for the fact learning through those means is not recognised as ‘legitimate’.
As a kid I was undecided between art and science as possible career paths. I chose art. I guess I was doomed anyway
I chose art too!
I also realized the economics of higher ed only seem to have good chances of panning out if you go into
- Money business major with focus on capital.
- Engineering / computer science / bio science…but only if favored by the first group.
- Maybe medicine idk?
We need to stop thinking about careers as fields we want to work in and more about the tasks we will be doing. As someone with a stem degree who works in manufacturing there are so many tasks that are more art form then doing any science. If I told you as a kid you could be a fully accomplished artist by becoming an engineer you would have blown me off.
At the end of the day, though, what always ends up happening is we become teachers, negotiators, and networkers. You can do it anywhere. Having a skill only gets you in the door.
the “art” of engineering only works out if you are solid on the basics and that means a good understanding of the relevant physics, chemistry, biology and math as well as the ability to quantify the whole thing with proper math.
Would you like me to describe the many tasks an engineer is responsible for that does not involve physics, chemistry, biology, and math?
Answering your bosses mail, that the project cannot be done in the ridicolous time the marketing and sales team promised to the customer isn’t exactly an art specific to engineers.
Oh… I’m sorry, you’re massively overqualified for the position…
“THEN HIRE ME FOR IT YOU MOTHER FUCKER!”
Used to want to do an M.D. Realized I didn’t want to be 400k in debt before I’m even a resident. Thought I’d do a Ph.D in chemE, but didn’t feel like being underpaid and overworked for 4+ years.
Teaching is rewarding. So is connecting with your fellow students. It was a completely different league at CC vs. Uni. Did a lot of research throughout my undergrad. I still like what I majored in, but it took me a long time to adjust after my personality got absorbed and prepared to get fucked by grad school.
Right in the feels. This is why i’ve joined a party and am working towards a different system.
Academia is a scam and in a lot of ways the only reward for locking yourself into it is the opportunity to tell young people to just follow your narrow path to success. And I’m not saying everyone in academia is a trying to scam students, I mainly mean that PhDs lack objectivity on how the world works because they’re so locked into their weird little corner of the world and view of as fine and normal
As a recent PhD, yeah. A lot of people im my department are pretty isolated. When I was a grad student I felt pretty connected to the outside world because I was a worker, now I need to make sure I dont isolate myself
When the job market is good, get a job.
When the job market is bad, get an education.
Dont hurt me in this way