> A PhD is slave work and exploitation as 'right of passage'. You can't assume all fields like that. I know that some people here on HN have described PhD prog

> A PhD is slave work and exploitation as 'right of passage'. You can't assume all fields like that. I know that some people here on HN have described PhD programs in lab-based STEM fields as killer hours, low pay, and lots of carrying water for their supervisors. But in my own discipline at least (a subbranch of linguistics), a PhD is typically paid with an ordinary European middle class salary, and the topic is chosen by the student and only agreed to by the supervisor, so you aren’t being slave labour for the supervisor’s own ends.