Why can't you graduate?

On a side note, do you teach there, Orbit?

and as far as budget.. Wow, what can they do? how disastrous is it to not allow new admissions for spring? as opposed to raising tuition for everyone? They've prob already done that, right.
My brother's at a public university and I am sure any tax breaks my parents got were more than taken up by the huge tuition increases in the past year.
(See Onion article on Maryland closing down.. hah!)

You will be put on the track to be a professor, and the industry is shrinking the tenure track in favor of part-timers to cover classes (academic temps really). If you want to teach at community college, just go get a masters' degree. According to the MLA recently I think the average number of applications per tenure track position was 300.

Do grad school (in the humanities or out of it) for two reasons alone:

1. It is ABSOLUTELY what you must do with your life. You know it will make you happy, you know a professorial/instructional job is precisely what you want to do, etc. In which case, follow your bliss but keep your eyes open every step of the way.

And/or:

2. You don't have to pay for much or all of it and you can afford to indulge an interest in learning. Your heart is not set on a career in it necessarily and even if you leave early you do so with reduced savings (or fellowship/scholarship coverage) instead of a crushing, nothing-to-show-for it debt, and you will still have had the benefit of learning and working on something of interest to you.

If you don't fit into either category, avoid grad school. Just don't.

What concerns me is.. worrying that I'm pretty much letting myself get jerked around in a major way by going along with the party line in academe, which is, sure you'll land a tenure-track job! we know the market is tough but that doesn't count for YOU.

And so I'll go along with it and work my butt off for a couple more years, living on very little, in debt, in a city I'm not super fond of, all on the premise that this is following a path & a plan toward a job in the field. And I don't think I want primarily to teach; I haven't done it yet so perhaps I will love it, who knows - I want to research & write, above all - I don't dislike the idea of teaching but I don't want to ONLY do that at a community college level or as an adjunct.

Outside academe, I seriously think of working in international relations. My degree will be in foreign language actually, not English literature, so I'll have at least two other languages even if I decide to quit after the MA. I'm following closely both the Chronicle's job listings by e-mail, and jobs outside the field, and hell, the job market for *anything* else I am good at (web development, publishing) is terrible too, so I may as well stay where I am for the time being. (OK, end rant - I am glad for having written that down).

woah dude, when I read Puerto Rico there I just got some horrid déja vu sense, I think I have to leave now. eep.

Thats putting it midly. I spent more time tangling with my small, small universities administation then studing for some courses. We brought in a complete jerk to bring our budget into line. Courses were chopped, our whole Eng and Ed programs were taken out, our tution doubled and then some to $4500 (second highest in the country) and the students went through 2 faculty strikes, one support staff strike and another librarian strike. 10 years later, we are back in the black, highering new tenure track positions (and hopefully replacing the Writer In Residence position) and could still use a few more science teachers.
If you have a doctorate in sciences, come to Canada, we need you!

I can't be bother to add to the classless society thread, seeing as it seems to focus on tution which isn't the same issue up north.

-- Francis Watlington (peppermintsmok...), August 3rd, 2003. (Francis Watlington)

This deserves a "Cutest Non-Sequiter" award. Adorable!

I'm listening...