Academia is cult-like, in my memory of it. There's an us-versus-them attitude toward the outside world; in that view, academia is prestigious and involves inter

Academia is cult-like, in my memory of it. There's an us-versus-them attitude toward the outside world; in that view, academia is prestigious and involves interesting work, and people in "industry" are doing useless, bullshit grunt work. The difference is exaggerated immensely. It's a self-defeating attitude since most academics will have to leave the ivory tower. It's an up-or-out system-- and one where promotion decisions often have more to do with politics than merit (although that's the case in most industries)-- that does absolutely nothing to help the "out" find decent alternatives. In CS and economics, they usually don't need help, but humanities PhDs are completely screwed. Of course, it didn't help this woman that her track record indicates someone with severe mental problems. She probably had no alternatives; McKinsey's not exactly an option for someone like that.