Anyone else aware of this? Why the hell are we paying for these people to sit around playing with books and papers. These PhD people are playing the system. I don’t think people realize that these people are having expenses covered to essentially jack off while we work.
The funding is tied to being an employee of the university and in scientific fields like mine there was a substantial opportunity cost between the money I could make in industry with just a masters and the measly 20k I got from my PhD stipend. You’re also not even taking classes for most of your PhD, so it’s not like you’re getting a free education, it’s more like being paid for the prospect of increasing the notoriety of thru your publications.
Anyone else aware of this? Why the hell are we paying for these people to sit around playing with books and papers. These PhD people are playing the system. I don’t think people realize that these people are having expenses covered to essentially jack off while we work.
Anyone else aware of this? Why the hell are we paying for these people to sit around playing with books and papers. These PhD people are playing the system. I don’t think people realize that these people are having expenses covered to essentially jack off while we work.
Um, yeah I was aware. I am pretty sure anyone who went to college in the states—especially a large research University would know this fact. It’s pretty common knowledge and has been true for at least 40 years. It’s likely a major factor in helping the US becoming a powerhouse in R&D in numerous fields.
There is no guarantee of pay for a PhD student. Most get paid by being a teaching assistant, research assistant, or applying for grants. If someone wants to just sit on their butt, they have to pay sticker price. The pay you receive for the aforementioned roles is tuition + near minimum wage.
Anyone else aware of this? Why the hell are we paying for these people to sit around playing with books and papers. These PhD people are playing the system. I don’t think people realize that these people are having expenses covered to essentially jack off while we work.
Anyone else aware of this? Why the hell are we paying for these people to sit around playing with books and papers. These PhD people are playing the system. I don’t think people realize that these people are having expenses covered to essentially jack off while we work.
Um, yeah I was aware. I am pretty sure anyone who went to college in the states—especially a large research University would know this fact. It’s pretty common knowledge and has been true for at least 40 years. It’s likely a major factor in helping the US becoming a powerhouse in R&D in numerous fields.
I love how this guy is outraged over PhD students making 20k/year or whatever but has nothing to say about the thousands upon thousands of totally useless bureaucratic "admins" making mid six-figures who do literally nothing.
OP, you are not very bright. Or not very wise. Probably both.
OP, since you're probably young and naive, let me help you out. Sit down, this might take a minute.
College is a scam. Full stop. A total scam. Especially in the United States, where your "education" will cost 5 to 8 times more of an identical education in other developed countries. The quality of your education, with rare exceptions, is no better in these other countries.
Why is this you might ask? Well, it has nothing to do with a few hundred PhD students getting paid 20k to actually do work (i.e. teach classes). It's because universities in the United States are businesses before anything else (yes, that includes public schools). But their goals are aligned somewhat differently than private enterprise. Here's why
Despite what their marketing brochures and admissions counselors tell you, colleges mainly exist for the following reasons:
1. To increase the size of their endowment
2. To serve as a vehicle of social engineering for impressionable young people
3. To act as gatekeepers to the modern middle class (it's a pay to play system. If you want to be middle class or above, you have to pay in. That's why you pay so much to go)
4. To conduct research that serves the interests of certain parties or groups within the federal government
To keep things very brief, the majority of your tuition dollars goes to paying admin salaries. The majority of these admins have little to no impact on any aspect of your college life. They do not improve it and in many ways, they probably make it worse. Colleges and Universities are stacked with hundreds of these bumbling morons - some are a necessarily evil, others are worse than useless. And many are making 300k+/year. Most make well over 100k.
Now that we've cleared that up, you can hopefully begin to use your college education to start thinking, and direct your justifiable outrage at the right parties instead of some poor PhD students
The funding is tied to being an employee of the university and in scientific fields like mine there was a substantial opportunity cost between the money I could make in industry with just a masters and the measly 20k I got from my PhD stipend. You’re also not even taking classes for most of your PhD, so it’s not like you’re getting a free education, it’s more like being paid for the prospect of increasing the notoriety of thru your publications.
OP might be horrified to know that CS PhDs typically make at least $35-40K/year and quite a bit more if they do an internship over summer.
The funding is tied to being an employee of the university and in scientific fields like mine there was a substantial opportunity cost between the money I could make in industry with just a masters and the measly 20k I got from my PhD stipend. You’re also not even taking classes for most of your PhD, so it’s not like you’re getting a free education, it’s more like being paid for the prospect of increasing the notoriety of thru your publications.
OP might be horrified to know that CS PhDs typically make at least $35-40K/year and quite a bit more if they do an internship over summer.
I attended one of the largest graduate programs in the country. Many phds get scholarship or graduate assistantships, but some pay full sticker price, often by taking out loans. It may not be wise to do so - but for some the phd makes a massive difference in their careers because they can achieve their dream of working in research or academia. Whether you land a position in academia from some mid ranked graduate program by getting published, going to conferences, and trying really hard is a crapshoot. There could be an uptake in interest in Byzantine history tomorrow or it could be pro-Columbian South America instead.
Anyone else aware of this? Why the hell are we paying for these people to sit around playing with books and papers. These PhD people are playing the system. I don’t think people realize that these people are having expenses covered to essentially jack off while we work.
Our founding fathers set up research universities specifically so a subset of "smart" people could make discoveries about the arts, sciences, technologies, etc. and then freely share that knowledge with the rest of American and the civilized world.
Yes, the rest of us normies would work and support the state universities (taxes! gasp!) but the pay-off was huge because America became one of the most educated societies in history.
Americans from that generation would be disgusted that modern MAGA trolls hate any human endeavor that requires cooperation, long-term planning, shared costs, etc. Just because something isn't benefiting you directly doesn't mean it isn't benefiting you.
Our ancestors would be disgusted by the venal and ignorant people running the country today.
p.s. Look who literally founded universities...
Thomas Jefferson – Founded the University of Virginia in 1819.
Benjamin Franklin – Founded the University of Pennsylvania in 1740.
Leland Stanford – Co-founded Stanford University in 1885.
George Washington – Proposed a national university and supported the establishment of Washington and Lee University.
Noah Webster – Education reformer and lexicographer, helped found Amherst College in 1821.
There is no guarantee of pay for a PhD student. Most get paid by being a teaching assistant, research assistant, or applying for grants. If someone wants to just sit on their butt, they have to pay sticker price. The pay you receive for the aforementioned roles is tuition + near minimum wage.
Every class I had taught by a GTF was terrible. They are sophomoric, arrogant, inexperienced, and unaccountable. Often very marginal personalities too, years of nerd issues sheltered from the real world. They shouldn't be teaching in college.
OP is right to be annoyed. Everything about the system is bull, especially that these people want to be addressed as “Doctor”. They are not doctors! They move pencils around and write papers no one is interested in!
There is no guarantee of pay for a PhD student. Most get paid by being a teaching assistant, research assistant, or applying for grants. If someone wants to just sit on their butt, they have to pay sticker price. The pay you receive for the aforementioned roles is tuition + near minimum wage.
Every class I had taught by a GTF was terrible. They are sophomoric, arrogant, inexperienced, and unaccountable. Often very marginal personalities too, years of nerd issues sheltered from the real world. They shouldn't be teaching in college.
Undergrads are being ripped off.
At a lot of universities (especially elite ones) professors are hired largely on the quality of their research. If they happen to be a decent teacher, that's a bonus. So be careful what you wish for . . .
Every class I had taught by a GTF was terrible. They are sophomoric, arrogant, inexperienced, and unaccountable. Often very marginal personalities too, years of nerd issues sheltered from the real world. They shouldn't be teaching in college.
Undergrads are being ripped off.
At a lot of universities (especially elite ones) professors are hired largely on the quality of their research. If they happen to be a decent teacher, that's a bonus. So be careful what you wish for . . .
as if that were any excuse. If they expect to be paid 1000's or 10,000s of $$$ for classes, they should make sure they have decent teachers.
as if that were any excuse. If they expect to be paid 1000's or 10,000s of $ for classes, they should make sure they have decent teachers.
Where do you think they should find "decent teachers" who are experts in these subjects?
I guess they could interview people who are doing graduate level work in these areas. But then again, that means you'd need to have people doing graduate level work in these areas.
Yet, the OP thinks people shouldn't do that. So essentially the OP is saying to close down the colleges.
p.s When asked how he would staff a college without "Liberals" taking most of the jobs, that idiot pundit Christopher Rufo basically said, if there aren't enough Conservatives to fill the professorships at these universities, then I do think we should just shut them down.
Douthat: But you’re not actually shutting down the schools themselves, right? Americans are going to continue to want to send their kids to colleges and universities. I agree with you that if you asked me tomorrow to staff all of America’s colleges and universities with people [like] us, I couldn’t do it. But there’s no solution where conservatives like — we don’t have enough academics. I guess we’re going to close down the American university system. And if that were our policy, it would be extremely unpopular.
Rufo: Conservatives cannot fully staff the Department of Education. Conservatives cannot fully compete for education grants, or university-level research programs. No, conservatives can’t do any of those things. So we have to figure out what we can do. Where can we have leverage? Where can we take over or recapture an institution? And if we can’t do those things, then what do we have to shut down? Shutting things down is actually a very effective strategy.
Most PhD students fund their way by teaching or earning fellowships. It’s a little different for STEM.
The NIH and NSF (and others, including private funds) do fund a lot of STEM doctoral programs either directly (training grants) or indirectly (grants to profs who in turn pay grad students).
The vast majority of scientific research done in academia is executed by grad students and postdocs funded by the above.
Basically the US govt underwrites the scientific labor for basic research in the country - and those laborers get a good education too.