Rebecca Schuman's Thesis Hatement

If you're on the fence about getting a PhD in Literature or considering leaving academe mid-PhD program, take a look at Rebecca Schuman's insightful article in Slate "Thesis Hatement." Schuman's article makes many fine points, here is a snippet:

 

Don’t misunderstand me. There is unquantifiable intellectual reward from the exploration of scholarly problems and the expansion of every discipline—yes, even the literary ones, and even if that means doing bat-shit analysis like using the rule of “false elimination” to determine that Josef K. is simultaneously guilty and not guilty in The Trial. But there is one sort of reward you will never get: monetary compensation from a stable, non-penurious position at a decent university.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_dFpKZo54w