I feel that as a former Amplifier, an FTL listener, and sometimes poster on this message board, that I need to come clean....I am a state government employee. In fact, while I am not an LEO or participate in the war on drugs, I am still probably one of the worst in the eyes of Mark and Ian as I am a college professor. I have a state pension. I have really great healthcare.
Working for the state can be extremely frustrating. The level of bureaucracy is mind-numbing. But I love teaching and participating in the campus community, especially the great campus that I work for. Unfortunately, the state has a near monopoly on higher level education, so I had few options elsewhere.
I'd like to clear up a few things that I hear on air. The pensions are a blessing and a curse. The defined benefit is good, but, as my colleagues like to refer to it, it is a "golden leash". One of the purposes of the pension is to keep you from looking for opportunities elsewhere. The value of the pension benefit is practically nil in your first few years, but increases in value the longer you stay.
As a result of the motivations to not look for opportunities elsewhere (i.e. pensions and the tenure clock), academics face wage compression. For example, my department has hired three additional faculty since I was hired, each one receiving a higher salary than I currently receive.
While the pensions and healthcare are great, the salaries are often not competitive with those in private industry (at least not for business professors). I was offered a higher paying corporate job before I took the academic job that I have now. I really wanted to be a professor, so I took a pay cut.
At best, we receive a 3% cost of living increase each year, even in good times. Merit pay is virtually nonexistent, which I don't agree with. For the past 2 years, we've taken a 5% pay cut. I hear a lot of people saying that we're lucky that we even have jobs, but the unemployment rate for business PhDs is still pretty close to 0%.
The nice thing about my school is that we only receive about 1/3rd of our funding from the state. The administration and many of the faculty would actually like to receive less because state funding hampers our ability to serve students. Each in-state student is subsidized by tax dollars. When the fixed amount of subsidy dollars runs out, we can't take anymore in-state students in and so we focus on bringing in out-of-state and international students, who pay full price. We turn away good in-state students because they are automatically subsidized.
I somewhat agree with Mark and Ian when I hear that college is overrated. It is certainly overrated for unmotivated students. For motivated students, it truly is a chance of a lifetime. At my school, most of your instructors have PhDs, meaning that they likely spent around 10 years in college learning about the subject that they are teaching you. You really have to love the subject to spend that much time learning about it. Many of us (including myself) also have private industry experience and we can introduce students to people in the industry to get their careers started.
There are endless opportunities for motivated students. I set up a program at my school last year that allows students in my major to get experience working with industry professionals to compete in a competition. We set up internships to give students industry experience. I encourage students to complete independent studies to focus on something that they are passionate about.
When we find a motivated student, they are celebrated in our department. We let good employers know about them. We push them to apply for scholarships. We work hard to make sure that they are successful. Unfortunately, many students aren't very motivated. Well, at least not beyond hitting the bars on the weekends.
I get frustrated with unmotivated students. Students that just want a grade. It's those students that say that college is a waste of time. And for them, it is.
A lot of kids go to college without knowing why they are going to college or what they are going to study when they get there. I would advise anyone in high school to work for a few years before going to college if they don't know what they want to do. I have two children and we are homeschooling them. My plan is to have them finish their schooling at 16 and then work at something for two years. Ideally, they'll start businesses providing a good or service. It will give them a chance to earn money for college and get to work in the real world for a while. I think it also teaches responsibility and time management.
I set this up in the hijack-free zone to answer any questions that you might have about college or the college experience. If you come to bash, I'll just erase your comment.