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> The academic pyramid was never sustainable Theoretically it wasn't, or every human on Earth would be a PhD candidate within the century. However there was a
by foobarian 2y ago
> The academic pyramid was never sustainable
Theoretically it wasn't, or every human on Earth would be a PhD candidate within the century.
However there was a period after WW2 where a lot of empty professor chairs needed to be filled and so I believe that people came to expect the growth. So for example you would have the post-war generation push their kids into it, saying "but of course you can be a professor like me, they will be beating down your door to get you hired!" But of course that seems to have stopped around the end of the century.
- analog31 2y agoMy dad got a chemistry PhD in the mid 1950s. He said that by that point, it was already widely known that most PhDs would have no chance of landing an academic position. He went into industry and had a good career. I got my PhD in physics, in the mid 90s. Same story.
- grandempire 2y agoThe period after WW2 wasn’t empty seats to be filled, it was the government funding science, engineering, and some social science. That changed the shape of universities forever.
- ocschwar 2y agoIt was both. The universities needed help recovering from WW2, and they got that plus more thanks to Vannevar Bush.
- ocschwar 2y agoFirst there was the expansion to recover from WW2. Then there was expansion in science to prepare for the Cold War. There was also expansion from the Great Society's education efforts. And the influx of women and minorities into college. And expansion from other countries sending students to the US to kickstart their own universities. It kept the academic sector growing for decades, gradually, and people just forgot the mindset you have to have for the day the growth stops. And that day came.