What & How & Why

Dark times in the Academy

Chapter 1 notes


The end of an Era

  • 花在教育上的经费越来越少
  • 更多地方雇佣 adjunct 人员取代 tenure 人员 (2013 年比例为 3:1)

薪水走势

adjunct 的问题
  • 合同拖到新学期开始前签
  • 没有学校的支持与指南

Breaking out of the Ivory Tower

  • 多半是说为啥自己要做这行
  • Individual efforts alone cannot overcome systemic forces.

The myths Grad students Believe

学生相信的 myths(误区)

  • 别人评判的是我的 idea,不是 cv
  • TA exp will make me marktable
  • 很多人没有 publication 也拿到了工作
  • 我对高压的工作没有野心,所以不需把 cv 写的很好
  • 教书职位不需要很好的 cv
  • 我的 advisor 很牛逼所以我不用担心
  • my discipline is doing fine
  • 我的 committee 说就业率很高
  • 我不是为了钱干这个
  • 没找到工作的都没我牛逼
  • My passion sets me apart
  • 我是例外
作者认为的反面例子
The connections that you make in graduate school through getting involved, mentoring undergraduates, and teaching are invaluable. Although these may not show up as a line on your CV, they will shape who you are and help you during your job interview.”

They are not things that get a candidate short-listed

  • 相信 passion 的权重很大。 it counts only as the motivator for a set of specific skills leading to a narrow set of quantifiable and mostly objective outcomes, in this case publications, grants, targeted teaching experience, and impressive references.
  • 为了显得真实而去否定
    • 我没有野心/ 我不需要跟多的钱 / 我不需要高排名的职位 / 只要我在大学教书我就能开心
  • 希望和舒适区:
    • asking prof for hope and confort( is seeking false reassurance, There is no “safe haven” for Ph.D.’s on the academic job market.)
对应策略

靠自己,不能考导师

  • 最小化风险,最大化投资
    • you must use every year in graduate school to produce a record oriented precisely to the demands of the tenure track market,while keeping an eye open to nonacademic options. (在入学时就可以开始准备了)