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An ‘Unsavory’ Appraisal of the Humanities Market

February 20, 2009

To the Editor:

Thomas H. Benton’s “Graduate School in the Humanities: Just Don’t Go” (The Chronicle Careers, January 30) is a pragmatic appraisal of the current dismal situation and offers valid suggestions to those for whom education is merely a means to a vocational end. But even young, nonidealistic, poverty-stricken students may choose to study art, history of philosophy, Italian literature, or African history because they love it. Indeed, they may not care very much about a teaching position and may be content to drive a cab or work in a hardware store (as I did, after earning three degrees, including a Ph.D., each in a slightly different area).

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To the Editor:

Thomas H. Benton’s “Graduate School in the Humanities: Just Don’t Go” (The Chronicle Careers, January 30) is a pragmatic appraisal of the current dismal situation and offers valid suggestions to those for whom education is merely a means to a vocational end. But even young, nonidealistic, poverty-stricken students may choose to study art, history of philosophy, Italian literature, or African history because they love it. Indeed, they may not care very much about a teaching position and may be content to drive a cab or work in a hardware store (as I did, after earning three degrees, including a Ph.D., each in a slightly different area).

Mr. Benton’s remarks are extremely unsavory for two reasons. First, regardless of his motivation, his goal is like Charles Murray’s — to discourage young people from formal education. Second, should he succeed, all of those departments that will then lack graduate students will wither and be forced to lay off their distinguished, tenured professors, for there will no longer be anyone to teach, mentor, or guide.

Robert Hauptman South Burlington, Vt.

The writer is a professor emeritus of information media at St. Cloud State University and editor of the Journal of Information Ethics.

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***

To the Editor:

Thomas H. Benton’s article offers good counsel for many considering graduate school in the humanities. He rightly describes the current job market, meager starting salaries, student-loan debt, and the struggle for tenure that face graduate students upon graduation. What he fails to address is the number of graduate students in the humanities who are not simply frittering away their 20s working at Starbucks with their advisers’ latest book tucked under the counter. I started my Ph.D. in my early 30s after a 10-year stint in higher-education administration. And like many of my classmates, I started with my eyes wide open. We are all too aware of the dismal prospects of landing any tenure-track job, much less the ivy-clad dream job on an idyllic campus.

Benton suggests that if the brass ring of a tenure-track job at a top school is not in the cards, which for many it is not, then the Ph.D. is a waste of precious time and resources. What he fails to acknowledge is that academic life “on the periphery,” as he describes it, can be rich and rewarding.

I teach full time (non-tenure track) at a small college with no humanities majors while finishing my Ph.D. I draw a competitive salary with a reasonable teaching load and have the pleasure of introducing the wonders of the humanities to students who will go on to careers in business and industry. My wife, who is a Ph.D. candidate in the humanities, has put her bachelor’s degree in philosophy to good use and works full time in finance while teaching as an adjunct and completing her degree. There is no time to start a family, and time with friends is a precious commodity. Students considering graduate school in the humanities should be more concerned with the prospect of working all the time rather than not working at all.

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While my wife and I both have lofty career aspirations in academia, we are for now grateful for our lives “on the periphery.”

Nicholas J. Wernicki Ph.D. Student Theological and Philosophical Studies Drew University Madison, N.J.


http://chronicle.com Section: The Chronicle Review Volume 55, Issue 24, Page A36

We welcome your thoughts and questions about this article. Please email the editors or submit a letter for publication.
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