I do think the original tweet by PSB is pretty elitist but there seems to be something problematic in some programs when students pay for their tuition and work for scraps as TA with little market return. At least the programs should be transparent about their future, e.g. how many get TT/industry jobs after x years etc.
This is a reference to a thread: https://twitter.com/kelly_zvobgo/status/1333668701233586181?s=21
Agree about transparency. In my program, PhD students are used as cheap labor and the department doesn’t care about their education. There is also a ton of variation depending who your mentor is; only like 3 are really hands on and do any mentor. The others just don’t care and don’t even meet their students.
I love the idea that TAs are somehow being used as cheap labor. It takes me twice as long to explain to a TA how to grade something, or do something, than it would for me just to do it all myself.
So sorry for free tuition, professionalization, a stipend in exchange for twenty hours a week (and we all know you almost never work 20 hours), and most importantly my time.
I love the idea that TAs are somehow being used as cheap labor. It takes me twice as long to explain to a TA how to grade something, or do something, than it would for me just to do it all myself.
So sorry for free tuition, professionalization, a stipend in exchange for twenty hours a week (and we all know you almost never work 20 hours), and most importantly my time.
Well, in my department they get have to grade 200 multiple choice and essay, because they get assigned to the big classes, and nobody cares about how the grading gets done. They are also assigned to big classes with discussion sections.
It's always people who got their PhD at "top" programs who want "lower tier" programs to cut because, presumably, the former would be more competitive at places where the latter currently get jobs, i.e., 4-4s and the like?
Or, is it just the altruism of people from "top" programs who are truly, genuinely concerned about the students at "lower tier" programs?
Hmmm...
Fūck off
I love the idea that TAs are somehow being used as cheap labor. It takes me twice as long to explain to a TA how to grade something, or do something, than it would for me just to do it all myself.
So sorry for free tuition, professionalization, a stipend in exchange for twenty hours a week (and we all know you almost never work 20 hours), and most importantly my time.
I agree that this tweet is elitist. I am doing my Ph.D. in a 50-60 ranked program which PSB would probably call third-tier. Except for one person in the last 10 years, all of them Ph.D. graduates have jobs. Of course, these jobs are not like a tenure-track job at Harvard or Princeton as there is no way we can place that high but they are either employed in the private sector (think consulting, data science) or in small colleges or big directional schools.
I do not support closing down these programs but they can decrease the number of people admitted which is relatively low anyway. Harvard accepts 20-25 Ph.D. students per year in political science while my school and similarly ranked schools accept around 5-6. My cohort is 5 people while a cohort below me is 4 people. Instead of attacking lower-ranked schools, we can talk about the real problem: middle-ranked schools who think they are Harvard so accepts 15-20 students per year.
If you’re getting some free education bcs some second rate Univ like mine wants to feel important enough to have a grad program, you’re doing okay even if you don’t get a TT job at the end of your free ride.
At the root of this are the metrics used to determine R1 status and other benefits to universities. The number of PhDs awarded in a criteria so schools push to award more PhDs. That’s what this is about. This is why you see schools like Merced and UCF start PhD programs.
Fūck off
I love the idea that TAs are somehow being used as cheap labor. It takes me twice as long to explain to a TA how to grade something, or do something, than it would for me just to do it all myself.
So sorry for free tuition, professionalization, a stipend in exchange for twenty hours a week (and we all know you almost never work 20 hours), and most importantly my time.
The truth hurts. And yes, if it was really about cheap labor, adjuncts would me much cheaper and easier to work with.