I'm reminded of this illustration: http://matt.might.net/articles/phd-school-in-pictures/ http://matt.might.net/articles/phd-school-in-pictures/ As credentials

I'm reminded of this illustration: http://matt.might.net/articles/phd-school-in-pictures/ http://matt.might.net/articles/phd-school-in-pictures/ As credentials for employment we have already bachelor and master degrees. Entering a PhD program purely to improve job prospects is asking for trouble. It seems that the goal of a PhD should be, as it has been, to become a academic subject expert--one who can either push the boundaries of a field, or comprehensively educate less knowledgable students. PhD students should be those with a general passion for a field, not those who hope to use the experience as a stepping stone to something completely different. You could argue that certain industrial roles require a degree of specialization that only a PhD holder would possess. Fine. Working near the boundary of knowledge like that you're bound to bump into it now and then. Those are really academic jobs in disguise. Something a PhD does indicate, I suppose, is that a degree holder possesses the tenacity and grit to persevere through years of arduous work.