Super-educated slaves

Investment Analysis Clubs Macro Economic Trends and Risks
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As a chemistry graduate student, I got free classes and even a pittance of a salary as a laboratory teaching (and later research) assistant. I lived on the $3,000 a year, using my LBYM skills.

I observed that much of the work in the research labs was done by postdocs – scientists with Ph.D.s who worked with little recognition and very little pay. I decided that was a non-starter toward my goal of becoming financially independent. I got an M.S. in Chemistry and went to work in industry, which was well-paid (and which I really enjoyed). I later got an M.B.A. and moved from research into product management.

Non-scientist grad students are in a worse position. Most of them have to pay for their graduate education. After their Ph.D.s, they can work as postdocs or as adjunct professors for a pittance. In 2010 (in retirement), I taught Chemistry for Science Majors at the local community college for a year. It was a lot of work (lesson plans, teaching and setting up 33 separate lab lessons). I did it for personal entertainment but tried to do a quality job.

I met the younger adjuncts who were teaching to make a living. The department tried to keep them to 2 classes each because they would be full-time (and get health benefits) if they taught 3 classes. These were mature people in their 30s and 40s who still lived on the edge of ruin because the pay was so low. I don’t know why they continued to teach but they were dedicated. If they were high school teachers at least they would have had decent pay and benefits.

American universities rely on this exploitation. It’s one step removed from outright slavery. Now UCLA has taken that final step.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/06/us/ucla-adjunct-professor…

**Help Wanted: Adjunct Professor, Must Have Doctorate. Salary: $0.**

**After protests, U.C.L.A. took down a job posting that offered no pay. But it turns out colleges often expect Ph.D.s to work for free.**
**By Anemona Hartocollis, The New York Times, April 6, 2022**

**The job posting for an assistant adjunct professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, set high expectations for candidates: A Ph.D. in chemistry or biochemistry, a strong teaching record at the college level, and three to five letters of recommendation.**

**But there was a catch: The job would be on a “without salary basis,” as the posting phrased it. Just to be clear, it hammered home the point: “Applicants must understand there will be no compensation for this position.”...**

**But the unspoken secret had been fleetingly exposed: Free labor is a fact of academic life....Contingent faculty, the umbrella term for all kinds of generally part-time and untenured college teachers without much if any job security, make up a huge portion of the teaching staff of universities — by some estimates, around 70 percent overall and more in community colleges....** [end quote]

The U.S. has a ridiculous higher education system. Too many students are educated for the available positions. The cost is extremely high, either out of pocket ($1.5 trillion in student debt) or subsidized by the government. The graduates can’t find jobs that compensate them for their investment in education (not to mention a living wage) so they are forced to settle for near-slavery – in fact, hundreds may apply for a single sh!tty research assistant or “contingent faculty” position.

Before embarking on any further education, a high school graduate should consult the Occupational Outlook Handbook.
https://www.bls.gov/ooh/

Many, many people would be much better off avoiding college completely and going into one of the many highly-paid trades (such as electricians or plumbers). Those who go to college can choose studies that train people for professions that need a lot of people.

The super-educated slaves are not, of course, chained to their desks. But they may not realize that they are endangering their financial security by wasting time serving an exploitive system instead of immediately going into a well-paid for-profit position.

When I was in grad school, the professors used to say that the smartest scientists worked in academia, while second-rate minds went into industry. My response was, “If they’re so dumb, why are they the ones making money?”

Wendy

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Many, many people would be much better off avoiding college completely and going into one of the many highly-paid trades (such as electricians or plumbers).

Supply and demand. Will plumbers still be highly paid once you convince a lot of young people to take up the trade?

PSU

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Help Wanted: Adjunct Professor, Must Have Doctorate. Salary: $0.

After protests, U.C.L.A. took down a job posting that offered no pay. But it turns out colleges often expect Ph.D.s to work for free.

Perhaps there’s some perceived “status enhancing value” in being able to say you’re an “Adjunct Professor at UCLA” versus some roadside community college down the road? And enough people believe that to bid the salary all the way down to zero?

I blame the academics willing to make such a bargain. If Taco Bell pays better, I’d be working there.

intercst

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Supply and demand. Will plumbers still be highly paid once you convince a lot of young people to take up the trade?

Obviously not, but the problem is convincing someone to be a plumber once they understand what the job entails.

I read an article last week where the author wrote “the key to financial success is finding something you love to do that everyone else hates.”

https://tradeciety.com/to-succeed-in-life-do-more-of-what-yo…

intercst

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Higher Education is decaying into an ever more absurdly wasteful mess. It largely operates from bizarre status games – radically underpaid highly credentialled teaching and research assistants have higher status than those working in industry or public high schools or etc…

Meanwhile, the entire model of undergrads trekking from expensive dorms to expensive classrooms to take crappy notes on mediocre lectures is being ever more undermined. One of my smarter grand-godsons (childdren of my original long ago godchildren) is doing splendidly at a huge state college he attends from home. He almost never goes to lectures but instead works his way through Khan and other online sources. He is enrolled and paying tuition because he knows the accreditation with his degree is invaluable.

david fb

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He almost never goes to lectures but instead works his way through Khan and other online sources. He is enrolled and paying tuition because he knows the accreditation with his degree is invaluable.

I rarely attended classes in engineering school, but excelled in completing homework and taking tests. The time saved allowed me to graduate in 3 years.

intercst

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I observed that much of the work in the research labs was done by postdocs – scientists with Ph.D.s who worked with little recognition and very little pay. I decided that was a non-starter toward my goal of becoming financially independent. I got an M.S. in Chemistry and went to work in industry, which was well-paid (and which I really enjoyed). I later got an M.B.A. and moved from research into product management.

At one time I wanted to be a PhD chemist. On that path, it is common to skip a master’s and go straight for a PhD, so chemistry PhDs take longer than most fields. Then you need to do at least one post-doc and maybe two post-docs. When the smoke clears, it is about the same amount of time as getting an MD, but with a lower salary. When I realized this, I bailed after my BS and left the field.

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<I read an article last week where the author wrote “the key to financial success is finding something you love to do that everyone else hates.” >

I came to that same conclusion in 1974 (when I graduated from college with a double major in Chemistry and Biology and realized that I didn’t have the physical stamina to do 36-hour shifts as a medical resident).

I can’t tell you how many people passionately exclaim, “I hate chemistry!” when they hear that I’m a chemist.

Well, I happen to love doing chemistry. Also, our society needs chemists and there are few people eager to do the work. (At least when I was working.)

Keys

  1. Everyone else hates the work.
  2. You love the work.
  3. The work is difficult, dangerous, hard to learn.
  4. The people who need the work really need it a lot and are willing to pay commensurately.

Wendy

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This is only one small part of a much larger and very political discussion of public funding of education.

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This job posting is a piece of performance art taking the spirit of capitalism to its logical conclusion: eliminate all variable costs. Wage slavery without the wages! Perfect. Now if we can just get to a rentier economy without production we’ll have fully realized the dream.

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Oh, don’t worry. Taco Bell internships are next. Just ask their employees working in states with no minimum wage.

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I can’t tell you how many people passionately exclaim, “I hate chemistry!” when they hear that I’m a chemist.

I used to be one of those chemistry haters. Had much to do with a really crappy high school chemistry teacher whose standard reply to why you did things a certain way was to just memorize it. It was analogous to hearing “BECAUSE I SAID SO,” when I asked my parents why and really ticked me off. Freshman year of college I had this little old Russian lady for Chem 101. Her passion for the subject was oozing out of every pore and she delighted in explaining the worlds mysteries through chemical reactions. I went from a French major to a Chemistry major because of her.

STEM teachers in high school tend to be lightweights, with some very glowing exceptions who are a credit to their profession. I looked briefly at getting a degree to teach high school chemistry, but was dismayed at how little chemistry one has to actually take to be qualified, and went for the chem degree instead.

The younger grades tend to get STEM teachers who have only memorized what they have to teach, not having enough understanding of the material they are spouting to be able to go further in depth or convey an understanding of why things happen. Math is a big problem area for this. If we taught kids why you follow certain math rules, help them to manipulate the concept physically, like our kids did in Montessori pre-school where they learned and understood math concepts like squaring numbers by physically grouping beads to reflect squares of numbers, we would be much better off wrt an educated population. Instead we put elementary school teachers who probably could not explain basic concepts in to teach the foundation of these kids understand. But hey, they are good babysitters, right?

IP

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A slave has no choice but to work for slaveholder. In the U.S., we can choose to go to college and choose who and how long we work for someone, if they choose to hire us.

I’m not a victim/slave is I choose to stay someplace or with anyone or any company. No one is holding a gun to their head. Well, perhaps in certain areas they are.(sex slaves for instance)

Lucky Dog

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“ In the U.S., we can choose to go to college and choose who and how long we work for someone, if they choose to hire us.”

Yes. Chattel slavery is unconstitutional. Wage slavery, however, is the form slavery takes today. Unless you “earn” an income sufficient to meet your needs through rent or capital gains, you are forced to sell yourself to a capitalist for a wage (barely) sufficient to meet your needs. Baring wealth, the sale of your self to another person is unavoidable. Or at least one member of your household must be a slave.

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Baring wealth, the sale of your self to another person is unavoidable.

As a coworker said, many years ago, “we are prostituting our minds and bodies for Hayes Albion”. The push for elimination of all social benefits is, implicitly, an effort to force more people deeper into prostitution.

Steve…bought his freedom ten years ago.

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Keys
1. Everyone else hates the work.
2. You love the work.
3. The work is difficult, dangerous, hard to learn.
4. The people who need the work really need it a lot and are willing to pay commensurately.

I told my sons an abbreviated version of this:
Remuneration depends on:

  1. How much society needs it done, i.e. how many in the field before it crowds AND
  2. How many people are willing to do the job, AND
  3. Barriers to entry i.e. education, training, certification

Being a commercial pilot is a skilled job. Lots of people like to do it. Barriers are medium high.
So the pay is ok, not great.
Being a plumber is a skilled job, although less than commercial pilot. Few really like to do it. Barriers are not very high. The pay is ok.
Being a PhD science professor is a highly skilled job. There aren’t many openings: society needs some, not a bunch, and they last a long time. The barriers are mostly measured by the time involved.
Don’t look for much pay.

I added:

  1. college is one-third trade school. Come out with a marketable skill (or a well-defined path to one) or you probably won’t be a happy 40 year old
  2. concentrate on classes in stuff no one ever taught themselves. You can read all the history you want, later. Conversely, not very many people have the glue needed to teach themselves calculus. No one ever taught themselves organic chemistry.
  3. Eight semesters (or twelve quarters) cheerfully paid for by the Bank of Mom and Dad. After that, you’ll be signing some long pieces of paper which will stick to you until they’re paid (but you’re always ready to stop by the house for a sandwich)

(Despite this advice, they’ve thus far turned out pretty well imho)

–sutton
completely unbiased judge of his own offspring

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The U.S. has a ridiculous higher education system. Too many students are educated for the available positions. The cost is extremely high, either out of pocket ($1.5 trillion in student debt) or subsidized by the government. The graduates can’t find jobs that compensate them for their investment in education (not to mention a living wage) so they are forced to settle for near-slavery – in fact, hundreds may apply for a single sh!tty research assistant or “contingent faculty” position.

=====================================================================

I think you are hyperventilating. You paint a false picture of the situation as described in the article. You obviously did not see that the article contained the following clarification from UCLA:

The job posting “regrettably contained errors and a lack of context,” he said, adding, “We always offer compensation for classroom teaching.”

The document link below provides the real information on faculty pay at University of California.

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA ACADEMIC SALARY SCALES
July 1, 2021

https://apo.ucsc.edu/docs/scales-crnt.pdf

Jaak

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If you are a ‘student’ going for a PhD, you’ll probably do a lot of research for your PhD professor. two or three years minimum. It’s part of the process.

Had friend who went to get PhD (actually Dsc) from GWU. took him 6 years part time - was working full time - and weekends… and some evenings.

Now at GWU, got my Masters Degree in EE (company paid tuition, I paid for books). 2/3rds the courses were taught by adjuncts - most superb - who taught on or two courses a semester in a field they were competent in. For example, had course on Coding Theory from the guy who ‘wrote the textbook’. Later took additional course, one by former FCC commissioner. All courses good. Some classes only 4 students, many 10-12. Back in the 80s, they got $3000 a semester to teach course. 4 students would pay the bill. Most of courses off campus at E-system facility ‘free’ to the university.

Yeah, if you’re a PhD student or grad student, you’ll put in hours. Teach undergrads and do lab session work, grade homework and tests and lots of other ‘routine stuff’. Do ‘homework sessions’ that go along with lectures by the prof. Part of the grind.

I had no interest in going beyond Masters. I’m not a ‘research type’, don’t want to work in a lab ‘inventing stuff’ full time, writing academic papers on that research, etc.

Of course, there are perks from free tuition/classes, parking passes, access to labs, events, discounts, etc…if you are ‘associated’ with the university.

t

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Unless you “earn” an income sufficient to meet your needs through rent or capital gains, you are forced to sell yourself to a capitalist for a wage (barely) sufficient to meet your needs.

I guess some of us are lucky that we were able to sell ourselves to a capitalist for a wage many times needed to meet our needs.

PSU

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I had no interest in going beyond Masters. I’m not a ‘research type’, don’t want to work in a lab ‘inventing stuff’ full time, writing academic papers on that research, etc.

Getting a PhD doesn’t mean you are condemned to a life inventing stuff in a lab and writing academic papers.

PSU

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