“Most graduate programs in American universities produce a product for which there is no market (candidates for teaching positions that do not exist) and develop skills for which there is diminishing demand (research in subfields within subfields and publication in journals read by no one other than a few like-minded colleagues), all at a rapidly rising cost (sometimes well over $100,000 in student loans).”

“Abolish tenure”…

About Chris F. Masse

Founder and President of Midas Oracle
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3 Responses to “Most graduate programs in American universities produce a product for which there is no market (candidates for teaching positions that do not exist) and develop skills for which there is diminishing demand (research in subfields within subfields and publication in journals read by no one other than a few like-minded colleagues), all at a rapidly rising cost (sometimes well over $100,000 in student loans).”

  1. It is funny that none of the recommendations are going to personally affect Prof. Taylor.

    He is a “philosopher of religion” (i.e., does not need a lab or graduate students), and he is 64 meaning that he is going to retire soon, so tenure is not of importance to him anymore.

    Furthermore, advocating interdisciplinary programs is interesting but is rapidly becoming the norm in physical sciences and engineering. The programs that Prof. Taylor advocates are the ones that include religion as one of the themes, and definitely would help him get more positions that are related to his own research interests (let’s face it, the department of religion is not the most important one in a university).

  2. Much of what Prof. Taylor writes rings true, though he takes it to an absurdist extreme. The situation is less dismal in the engineering and science fields, where Ph.D.s often have many options beyond teaching.

    Here are my own related thoughts on the very long tail of academic research.

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