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Facing poverty, academics turn to sex work and sleeping in cars

theguardian.com

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Re: Facing poverty, academics turn to sex work and sleeping in cars

#411

Post by tarboreus »

khawkins wrote: post #83

The fact that the article features an English professor is unsurprising. This is a supply-side problem--liberal arts degrees are in relatively low demand, but institutions continue to graduate students at unsustainable levels. No one is telling the students that they're spending 4-12 years getting an education which is worth less than what they're paying for it. For the most part, the only jobs that hire for English…

I think you're confusing "liberal arts" with "humanities." Math and science are liberal arts, though engineering is not.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberal_arts_education

Humanities students do indeed go on to earn less, but the differences are much more slight than stereotypes would have you think. They also narrow as people progress in their careers:

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/10/05/new-data-what...

There are indeed too many PhDs minted in the humanities, but I'd say this also applies to pretty much every field other than, perhaps, CS. Times are pretty tight for bench and social sciences as well.

Re: Facing poverty, academics turn to sex work and sleeping in cars

#412

Post by Retric »

s73ver_ wrote: post #388
Retric wrote: post #379

Earlier quoted context omitted.

US Doctors are a clear counter example. The group chooses it's own members and kicks people out.

I would disagree that's a market.

Doctors are not recruited and trained like McDonald's workers. The barriers to entry and barriers to retention put current and potential doctors in direct competition with each other. The field also deals with people moving on to something else.

So, it looks like a duck and smells like a duck to me.

Re: Facing poverty, academics turn to sex work and sleeping in cars

#413

Post by daxorid »

iamgopal wrote: post #191

Why tons and tons of online course are not making any difference to how University works ?

Online courses don't offer the all-important experience of getting obliterated at fraternity parties, nor do they deliver the critical piece of paper at the end.

So long as diploma issuance is still tightly controlled by the educational cartels, MOOCs will make next to zero difference.

Re: Facing poverty, academics turn to sex work and sleeping in cars

#414

Post by jjawssd »

wwweston wrote: post #68
jjawssd wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Perverse incentive structures will not be repaired with a power grab

Being able to reshape incentives implies power. "Grab" seems like it's just a pejorative. Ways to fix perverse incentive structures: * civic power generally reshaping incentive structures * build something else parallel around different incentives, avoiding all the misteps that caused similar institutions to bake in the perverse incentives they have now Neither one sounds particularly easy to me. Let me know if I lef…

Trump is the modern face of civic nationalism whereas Bernie epitomizes big government and the bureaucratic nanny state with opaque decision making processes. I see this as a power grab compared to the decentralized approach championed pushed by Trump. That is all.

Re: Facing poverty, academics turn to sex work and sleeping in cars

#415

Post by kbenson »

alexanderstears wrote: post #385
kbenson wrote: post #333

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> But there's a problem with how that stuff is bundled. Sure. I wasn't endorsing the system, just explaining it as I see it. > schools have to make sports programs accessible to women and men ... might be a better allocation of resources if they simply opened teams to both sexes rather than creating sexually differentiated teams. I think that only works in a world where women and men are both physically capable equal…

I don't see it the same way, sure the power of the purse and all but if the Federal Government can't coerce states to follow immigration law as a condition of accepting some federal grants, we may as well say that the feds can't tie money to behavior and just let the chips fall where they may. I get that women and men have different physical capabilities but why split it on gender? Why not split it on race? There isn…

> I don't see it the same way, sure the power of the purse and all but if the Federal Government can't coerce states to follow immigration law as a condition of accepting some federal grants, we may as well say that the feds can't tie money to behavior and just let the chips fall where they may.

I'm confused, I wasn't making any case for that. I'm not sure where we got to Federal funding tied to specific program attributes.

> I get that women and men have different physical capabilities but why split it on gender? Why not split it on race? There isn't much racial equity in some sports, apparently some races can't compete as well as others and the demographics speak for themselves.

Do they, or is that primarily a matter of socioeconomics and class providing less traditional opportunities for certain ethnic groups, leading them to funnel effort in alternate areas, such as sports? It could also be a cyclical system, where many role models for a race are currently in specific areas (such as entertainment and sports) influencing newer generations. I wouldn't be comfortable attributing it to genetic variance of physical capability without a bit more info.

Re: Facing poverty, academics turn to sex work and sleeping in cars

#416

Post by drharby »

badminton1 wrote: post #259
chrisseaton wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> For the most part, the only jobs that hire for English and other liberal-arts degrees are universities and schools This is such nonsense. Most jobs don't care what degree you have as long as you have a degree, and with an English degree you can apply for 90% of jobs. You could graduate and go on to be anything from an advertising executive, to a soldier. Most jobs don't care - it's technology that's unusual.

That's right. With a music composition degree you can be a Chief Security Officer at large companies such as Equifax.

"buuuuuurn" -Klaus

Re: Facing poverty, academics turn to sex work and sleeping in cars

#417

Post by geebee »

forapurpose wrote: post #409
geebee wrote: post #311

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think it's nonsense - I don't entirely agree, but I would agree with a milder version of the statement. I do know an English majors who is a director at at a top tech company, so I would agree that many companies will hire English majors. However, that's different than saying you can get hired as an English major vs saying these companies hire for English majors. Engineering and CS are majors that companies s…

> Engineering and CS are majors that companies specifically target In your industry.

Lots of companies outside the tech industry still have to recruit CS and other tech majors. The demand for specifically English majors outside tech doesn't come close to balancing things out.

Re: Facing poverty, academics turn to sex work and sleeping in cars

#418

Post by haihaibye »

nsxwolf wrote: post #263
chrisseaton wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> For the most part, the only jobs that hire for English and other liberal-arts degrees are universities and schools This is such nonsense. Most jobs don't care what degree you have as long as you have a degree, and with an English degree you can apply for 90% of jobs. You could graduate and go on to be anything from an advertising executive, to a soldier. Most jobs don't care - it's technology that's unusual.

Why do employers keep putting so much value on something so worthless? There must be cheaper ways to demonstrate to employers you have something equivalent to whatever it is they think they're getting from any old 4 year degree.

Because doing so would signal non conformity.

Bryan Caplan has a book coming out soon on the signalling model of education here's notes from a course he teaches http://econfaculty.gmu.edu/bcaplan/e496.html

Re: Facing poverty, academics turn to sex work and sleeping in cars

#419

Post by kd0amg »

mywittyname wrote: post #384
kd0amg wrote: post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is less of an oversupply because it's easier for CS PhDs to just go to industry (possibly in a non-research position) than it is in a lot of other fields, but I think it's still unrealistic to expect every CS PhD who seeks a tenure-track position to find one.

Actually, I would think it would be easier to get a tenure track professorship as a CS PhD. The number of CS-related grant opportunities is staggering.

Easier than in other fields, yes, but also definitely not so easy that anyone who makes a serious attempt will manage it.

Re: Facing poverty, academics turn to sex work and sleeping in cars

#420

Post by jononor »

forapurpose wrote: post #409
geebee wrote: post #311

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think it's nonsense - I don't entirely agree, but I would agree with a milder version of the statement. I do know an English majors who is a director at at a top tech company, so I would agree that many companies will hire English majors. However, that's different than saying you can get hired as an English major vs saying these companies hire for English majors. Engineering and CS are majors that companies s…

> Engineering and CS are majors that companies specifically target In your industry.

Which industries hire for English majors? Are there good opportunities to be had, and are future prospects looking stable,upwards or down?
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