><<< and now for an undergrad's perspective>>>>
>When students ask their professors about pursueing graduate study in
>history... professors shouldn't answer with encouraging statistics about
>forthcoming job openings or employment opportunities, instead, maybe
>they should ask their students what an MA or Ph.D means or is worth to
>them. Ask them,"When it's all over and you find yourselve working
>away from the universities, is this going to be problem? Do you
>want to study history for a job, or do you want to study history because
>you can't imagine not studying history?" When I asked, (and continue to
>ask), my professors about graduate school, they told me that the prospects
>of getting a good job are minimal. They said that even if the field does open
>up within the next ten years, there are already enough people with Ph.D's
>to fill the vacancies. I think anyone seriously considering graduate study in
>history needs to know this.
>After students learn that the odds are against them, if they still want to
>pursue a Ph.D in history, they will do it with or without encouragement or
>a promise of a great job when they finally finish. I think these are the people
>who should go to graduate school, because they are better prepared to
>face an uncertain future.
>I am one the the crazy ones, I know the odds, but still I'm going to graduate
>school. I'm going to get my Ph.D because history is something i would teach,
>study, and write for free (which is great because the way things are shaping
>up, I'll have to). If a student needs to know that there will be a place for
>them when they are finished, then I think they should be encouraged to
>pursue history on there own, and get an education that can train them to
>work in another field.
>Instead of focusing on some projections, or questionable statistics,
>(questionable, because most of the professors I know are far from retirment)
>tell them there are no promises, and little chance that everyone who
>has a Ph.D will get to use it.This negative input now, will save them
>a lot of frustration and expense later.
>
>Susan Longfield
>sfl@falcon.cc.ukans.edu