I do this rarely but with love: A blog Recommendation. A wonderful blog for sharing.
100 Reasons not to attend grad school.
With a focus on the Humanities and Social Sciences, the list (at 65 and counting) is almost like an autobiography to me, giving the reasons my friends and colleagues went into something else one by one, year after year. So many people dropped out for money, for personal reasons, for professional reasons, for frustration, for elation, for promising alternative careers, for politics, for law degrees, for self-worth, for pity, for depression, for shame.
Highlights include:
1. The smart people are somewhere else
16. You don't get to choose where you live
20. Few ideas are exchanged
35. "So what are you going to do with that?"
44. Advisers can be tyrants
50. You are surrounded by graduate students
51. You are surrounded by undergraduates
64. Smugness
And, really: it is pretty comprehensive. I recall my good friend who got divorced for reason 16, remarried for reason 44 and divorced again for reason 50... (That is, divorced for geographic distance, remarried because only grad students were available, then divorced again because they were asking the spouse to give up 8 years of promotions at the PhD's graduation in order to move to Podunk AK).
Good times, grad school. Good times.
I'm sorry, but I've beaten you there..."100 reasons" was mentioned* a few months ago (internet time: 1000 years) and I've brought it up once or twice. For a long time the blog owner was stuck in the 50s, but they seem to be advancing now to their goal. And yes I've kibitzed on that site too; they're more of a neurotic band than CMrs.
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*By whom I can't remember.
That blog seems to reference Glenn Reynolds a lot. And "The Smart People are Somewhere Else" post is based on specious logic. But hey, best of luck to them and that other blogger who dropped out of academia to live life in Austin, hope their book deals come through!
ReplyDeleteI agree that Glenn "Judge Harry Stone" Reynolds is over-resourced by the blog, but let us remember that the rafts of grad students we see now are mostly just dodging the economic Ragnarok; if by the miracle of miracles American capitalism begins operating at full blast again*, these people will vanish, just as they will disappear from the joke law schools, and the doctor factories.
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* "A-HA-HA-HA! Do you get the feeling you've been fuckin' cheated?" - John Lydon, 1978
You know, I had a strong suspicion that someone would have mentioned this blog here, but when I did a site-specific search for it on CM nothing came up.
ReplyDeleteMeh. Still enjoy the blog, wanted to share.