So You Wanna Be An English Professor (Part 1)
What are your suggestions for someone who is pursuing a graduate education in English with the intent of teaching at a college level? In short, if I want your job where do I start?
Poor, deluded soul. Let me explain a few things about the state of the discipline. Everyone knows by now how badly the recession is hurting funding for higher education. Intriguingly, however, the job market for English professors crashed forty years ago and has been crashing cyclically ever since.
In days of yore, most doctorates could find tenure-track positions at colleges and universities. Several factors emerging in the late twentieth century, however, have led to a job crunch in the Humanities disciplines. As higher education has been increasingly available to women, minorities, G.I.s, and working-class populations, it is only natural that a larger pool of candidates moves into graduate work, resulting in the production of more Ph.D.s. For instance, “in the 2002–03 academic year, 1,246 people earned PhDs in English” (Quarrocino).
While it would seem that more people flooding higher education would result in the need for more Ph.D.’s to teach the influx of students, the reality is somewhat the inverse. During this period, undergraduates were increasingly likely to be taught by a graduate teaching assistant than a professor. Graduate students are a LOT cheaper labor pool than professors.
So now we have a system (in English departments) which requires lots of graduate students to fuel its enormous need for cheap labor to teach the burgeoning freshman composition courses. But there’s not always a lot for these graduate students to do once they’ve taught their freshman courses and earned their degrees.
More recently, and even more disturbingly, the remaining tenure-track positions are being eroded by the tendency of many universities to hire contingent or part-time faculty. In many cases, these faculty members hold the Ph.D., but they are in non-tenure track positions, often performing part-time work with no health insurance, no benefits, at very low per-course wages, and with no security that their courses or programs will be there next semester.
This tendency to move away from tenure-track positions is disturbing for many reasons, but it’s evident. The Modern Language Association notes grimly: “Our analysis of the October lists suggests that, in any given year, from half to three-fifths of the total number of positions announced annually are tenure-track appointments at the rank of assistant professor” (“Report on the 2003-4 Job Information List”).
Or, to put it another way: “74.2% (448) [positions] were advertised at the level of tenure-track assistant professor,” Andrea Quarracino reports, citing the MLA “2004 Survey of Hiring Departments.” Yes, that’s right: 448 tenure-track positions at a time when 1,246 English Ph.D.’s came out into the market. So a lot of those English Ph.D.’s are not getting tenure-track jobs. And don’t forget the several hundred who didn’t get a job last year and so are competing with this year’s candidates….
Thomas H. Benton’s recent article in the Chronicle says it all: “Graduate School in the Humanities: Just Don’t Go.”
Well, if you love a life of poverty, suspense, high stakes and debts, tune in later in the week for nitty-gritty details and advice for proceeding along the path to the English doctorate. It’s nice work if you can get it! And if you get it, it’s more like a lottery than a meritocracy.
Works Cited
Benton, Thomas H. “Graduate School in the Humanities: Just Don’t Go.” The Chronicle of Higher Education. Jan.30, 2009.
Quarracino, Andrea. “Annual Report on the Academic Job Market.” The Association of Writers and Writing Programs. From the October 2005 issue of AWP Job List. (copyright 2006). http://www.awpwriter.org/careers/andrea01.htm
“Report on the 2003-4 Job Information List.” Fall 2004 MLA Newsletter. http://www.ade.org/jil/JIL_rpt.2003-04.pdf
My colleagues tell me, for instance, that they had over 200 applications for my position. And all of us with the Ph.D. in hand and glowing letters of recommendation! So what are the odds? It’s more than 99% likely that I wouldn’t get the job. Lucky, ain’t I?
No, Okay! I don’t! The dream Is now dead! Can I teach underwater basket-weaving? Quidditch? A course on tired pop-culture references? Four years of English major and a boot to the throat in the final months…okay(gasp)I(ugh)quit!
Harsh reality is simply another test thrown out by the Gods. Dreams are possible and those that focus on their quest can still achieve their desires. It may mean a longer and somewhat detoured journey but I suggest it may be one worth doing. Take heed from the original post but bear in mind that any trail leading up the mountain is arduous. Life throws out innumerable twists and struggles; pursuing a career that one loves has an end that may justify the pursuit. I wish that 30 years ago I listened to my dream.
That’s true: while the odds may be long against a person’s sucess…not trying at all GUARANTEES that the dream can never come true. Nice to hear from you, Bob! And, Chris, hang in there: some of those hopeful-y change-y posts’ll be coming atcha soon!
I…I feel a little better, what with the inspirational words. While I do enjoy the concept of “Guarantees”, perhaps I’ll slog on with mere “possibilities.”
I echo Bob’s sentiments. I started my quest for an education many years ago and encountered the typical things that life gives to those trying to raise a family, etc. The struggles continue, but so do the rewards for having met them. At a certain age one begins to dismiss many of the perceived troubles of daily life and begins to realize just what a great luxury it is to be doing this. A good approach may be taken from the Yoga Sutra of Patanjali, II:16 “Heyam Duhkham Anagatam” (Future suffering should be anticipated and avoided). Sounds simple enough.
What I find interesting in getting an English degree is that most people assume that you want to go into teaching. While I personally have no interest in teaching, literature and learning how to better communicate are two interests of mine. People are usually astonished to hear that I don’t want to teach – as though that is all the English degree is good for.
Does anyone else have this issue?
How much does the school you earn your graduate degree from impact your job prospects? For example, a friend of mine was just accepted to two graduate schools (he’s a history major). He wants to study American history/culture and tends to lean toward radical schools of thought (marxism, frankfurt school). One of the colleges he was accepted to is of that vain but he is worried that if he goes there it will limit his ability to get a job upon graduating (he wants to be a professor). I, and I am sure many others, have this same concern. I would like to pick a field of study/focus/school that aligns with my interests/ideology but I don’t want that to hurt my employment prospects. Also, are there any degree combos that make a candidate stand out? Was your combo of English and art history a factor in receiving this job?
Dr. Durant, your “hopeful-y change-y” comment made me snort a little, so thank you.
It’s taken me awhile to respond to this considering I’m the one who asked the question. “If I want your job, where do I start?”. Well sounds like the best place to start would be to exercise extreme cunning and the occasional karate move to ward of the other 200 applicants who already have a PhD. Ha, anyway…
Thanks for the informative response. I’m currently on a track to receive my secondary teaching licensure, which isn’t the perfect job market either (so I’ve been told repeatedly as of late), but I tend to be optimistic about the future. My plan is- don’t accrue more debt than I could pay off with the measly hourly wage I currently have. Which means, I can get my B.S. in English Teaching from Metro, but reason tells me to wait on grad school. Granted, I have yet to process and respond to the abundance of information in Parts 2,3 and 4. So, consider this response “to be continued”…