Newspaper Article

Scholars in a Teenage Wasteland

Hanson-Harding, Brian

2002

Overview

MARISA JANUZZI THOMas's first memory of her rookie year teaching at a public high school involved a girl with a Game Boy. Dr. Januzzi Thomas -- a Harvard graduate, Columbia Ph.D. and former assistant English professor at the University of Utah -- asked the student to turn off the game and bring it up to her. The academic job market for Ph.D.'s has been bleak for years, especially in humanities and life sciences. In 2000, 1,070 new Ph.D.'s in English competed among themselves and with former graduates for 528 tenure-track assistant professorships, according to the Modern Language Association. The outlook in other fields is also discouraging. Typically, those who do not land good jobs hang on as research assistants or as poorly paid adjuncts, or they try to break into industry. A perceived lack of respect is one big reason few Ph.D.'s consider lower education. Mentors and colleagues tell them they are wasting their time. ''There's a definite sense that it's complete academic suicide,'' Dr. Januzzi Thomas says. ''If I wanted to continue on the academic track, I would have been better off working in a bookstore and writing my book.''

• Publisher: New York Times Company
• Subject: Academic degrees / High Schools / History Instruction / Labor Market / Laboratory Equipment / Private Schools / Public School Teachers / Public Schools / Research Assistants / Scholars / Secondary schools / Teachers / Teaching / Teaching Methods / Tenure