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You think you're being clever, but you're not. Seniority actually matters in academia.
by argonaut 10y ago
You think you're being clever, but you're not. Seniority actually matters in academia.
- michaelt 10y agoWhat I'm saying is I know people who've started families while they were postdocs or even phd students. Academics can start families at any level of seniority. And if the country's policy is "well of course you're struggling to support your family, it's your own fault for not waiting until you achieve tenure at average age 39" [1] well I can understand academics leaving academia for industry. The average age of first childbirth in the US is 26, with steep rises in complications beyond age 35 [2]. Unless you're a man planning to have a child with a woman 10 years your junior, getting tenure before having a child doesn't sound like a great idea to me. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Professors_in_the_United_States#Assistant_professor https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Professors_in_the_United_State... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_maternal_age https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_maternal_age