The Academic Working Poor

[Cardywhite111]

I dont want to criticise the faculty member who was standing in line for cheese but surely he should consider whether he can afford children if he is so strapped for cash We all have to make choices in this world. I could have had five children. I chose to have two. I went to work part time. His wife could go to work part time. He could look after his children whilst she was working. If he still needs the cheese forget humiliation.

[sergioapuzzo]

PhD = pretty horrible deal

I got a PhD in Biochemistry and published 6 papers during my PhD and still no decent job, so guess what, I went to med school and had to postpone my life another 10 years.

Please tell the world to avoid higher education in the form of PhDs or Master's - it is actually dangerous for your future - for example I have to consider staying childless since I have no time with med school and being older I get tired more easily. Again please do not do a PhD

[justcallmeassinine]

@sergioapuzzo Its sad that a Phd in biochem cannot get a job but sounds like you made a good choice to go to med school and not have children.It would not be good for you or the children. Higher ed is a business and too many go into it with no plan. If you don't have a family and really don't want to go to med school,I amsure their are jobs abroad and in federal gov't for you.

[4freespeech]

Welcome to the "New World Order"! Many do not yet realize that we are

experiencing a gradual, planned DESTRUCTION of our nation by elites,

determined to turn the United States into a 3rd world SLAVE STATE.

The World Bank, together with the Federal Reserve, (which is a private

banking cartel owned by foreign elites) are systematically LOOTING

the National Economy to the point where EVERYBODY WILL BE POOR.

Communist China is their MODEL, and THAT is our FUTURE if elites

get their way.

[aus2045]

Try being a graduate, I gave 8 years to study, passed well, spent many $100,000s. Now I work in a supermarket stocking shelves. Based on my current income it will take me 176 years to pay back my student loan

[smedheat]

accepting free cheeses to support a non-working spouse and presumably non-working offspring is plainly a matter of personal choice.

[4freespeech]

@smedheat Oh yeah, let's PUT THOSE 8 YEAR OLDS BACK TO WORK IN COAL MINES, RIGHT?

[MultiSmartass1]

No wonder I didn't get a Phd and try to become a Professor.

I would probably working in gift shop one day and teaching Dickens on another.

It has been tough enough working as a writer with a BA.

Grad school and teaching doesn't seem to be worth it.

[sergioapuzzo]

@MultiSmartass1 you made the right choice

[pineapple1969]

Education equals debt because of student loans.

[xgenra]

look for the username

thegrassrootsallianc

and watch the video.

i think he is onto something.

[engineerjatt]

I DONT KNOW WHY PEOPLE CHOOSE COLLEGE TECHING AS CAREER, it is worst horryifing career................

[katyonok]

well, it promises tenure plus your ability to do what you want for the rest of your life pls being able to jump on interesting projects without losing yojr paycheck... but you need to survive assistant professorship first.

[jtejkowski]

@engineerjatt This is why you are not a teacher.

[JTPNYC95]

10 dollar words make this walmart job so funny.

[realguy420]

Let me ask. What do people get paid in? Paper Currency.

Interesting that not many people know that the US Federal Reserve is a private company who prints as much money as they want. It's all just numbers in a computer to them.

Notice how congress actually got upset during these "bailouts" for the first time in 70 years, they openly stated that the Fed Reserve chairmen are not complying with any demands of congress or US government.

Those who print your currency control it, and you.

[torrac2]

capitalism is the worst piece of shit ever

[KripDrip]

if it wasnt for capitalism, it would be harder for everyone to get a job and get rich.

[carnypimp]

@KripDrip Im sorry if was such a great oppurtunity for everyone to get rich then their would be many poor educated people getting rich. Sorry you live in la la land! The united states has to have at least 30% socialism so the majority of the poor can capitalize from capitalism otherwise only the rich make others rich. The party that gained controll of this country AGAIN is only out for those who are already rich or look down on the middle, and poor class. The class war is capitalist.

[TheLiberty53]

@torrac2 - In this man's first few sentences and from the place he occupies doing this interview, he's a hypocrite. Who has more freedom than academics in a free and democratic society: Professors. If this interview was done in the former Soviet Union, China or a Middle East nation they would take him out and shoot him. Capitalism is the only economic system that works and benefits any person, no matter what color, creed or race, who is willing to work hard to achieve their dreams. Not Marxism.

[candlelyte008]

The U.S. economy is largely a service industry economy. That's why a lot of young people are foregoing college altogether. I'm not sure why people with advanced degrees and no other job skills think they're immune to that. I want to go back to school to finish a liberal arts degree, but want to at least minor in business so I'll have something useful to fall back on. I've spent my whole working life in some type of 'service industry', never been eligible for food stamps.

[yuukagoronyan]

probably, the circumstances in Japan are worse than that of the U. S. I am a part-time teacher at several colleges in the suburbs of Tokyo. I cannot make my living by teaching. What is Ph. D degree for?

[yusukeshinyama]

I'm sorry to say, but if you expected you were getting a decent faculty job after you got a PhD degree, I think you're a bit naive. We all know how Japan treats them badly, and only a small fraction of PhDs can actually get an okay position here. Others have to keep struggling for a long time until one day finally they're getting a chance. This is sad and I certainly don't like it, but it's what it is for now. Good luck.

[kcssnotbubble]

a lot of my professors complain about their low wadges and nobody treats them with any less respect. One of my professors would even bring in his old clothes for the students to dig through if they wanted them. He was very open about it and most of us were in the same position of needed and getting hand outs.

It's so depressing that they have a master's degrees yet they get paid as much as a manager at a gas station.

When i graduate I'll be a H.S art teacher. Looking forward to all this crap

[madcatzy]

I agree

[milkgodnl]

The remediation you suggested (an upper bound on P/T to F/T ratio) should also be made a condition for regional accreditation. In this way, any state that cuts its budgets by employing such labor practices, will do so at their peril. BTW: The rich are rich not because they are virtuous or hard working. They are rich because they exercise power. It is high time we do the same.

[HalcyonRain321]

I'm not at all surprised.

In the U.S., wealth is highly concentrated in a relatively few hands. The top 1% of households (the upper class) owned 33.4% of all privately held wealth, and the next 19% (the managerial, professional, and small business stratum) had 51%, which means that just 20% of the people owned a remarkable 84%, leaving only 16% of the wealth for the bottom 80% (wage and salary workers).

Can you imagine what might happend if that 80% of us stood up and said "ENOUGH!"?

[madcatzy]

he he do you know WHY the wealth is concentrated in the top 1% of the population? because they have financial iq ! they don't live on credit and they don't work for money... they get their money to work for them. People like you are the "Robin Hood" of the world and don't get it at all. You don't see WHY somebody is poor and why somebody is rich.. read "rich dad poor dad" and maybe you will get the point.

[FriedDaisy]

That may be, madcatzy, but that doesn't make it ethical.

Money isn't a product, it's an idea-- a symbol. It's a promise to exchange labor and products for the labor and products of others.

Like parasites, the above mentioned suck from the primordial soup of other people's pain, suffering and honest labor to accumulate obscene amounts of wealth while they, themselves, produce nothing.

[madcatzy]

Yes that's true FriedDaisy.

[AntiAnarchrist]

@FriedDaisy Hell ya!  Thank you for setting the record straight...