Training of Scientists and Engineers

Before I get into my life as a grad student, I should probably explain the typical training of scientists and engineers. Essentially, grad school is the last form of slavery permitted in the USA. A few people in my family have referred to it as “welfare for intellectuals.” However, I think that my husband (currently a grad student) explained it best. Basically, he reworded the following quote from Pulitzer Prize Historian David Brion Davis about slavery:

Yet we must never forget that these same "welfare capitalist" plantations in the Deep South were essentially ruled by terror. Even the most kindly and humane masters knew that only the threat of violence could force gangs of field hands to work from dawn to dusk "with the discipline," as one contemporary observer put it, "of a regular trained army." Frequent public floggings reminded every slave of the penalty for inefficient labor, disorderly conduct, or refusal to accept the authority of a superior.

so that it reads:

Yet we must never forget that these same "welfare capitalist" [University Graduate Programs] were essentially ruled by terror. Even the most kindly and humane [Professors] knew that only the threat of [failure, economic ruin, and permanent banishment from the scientific field] could force gangs of [graduate students] to work from dawn to dusk "with the discipline," as one contemporary observer put it, "of a regular trained army." Frequent public [humiliation and elongation of time until graduation] reminded every [graduate student] of the penalty for inefficient labor, disorderly conduct, [failure to publish], or refusal to accept the authority of [his/her supervisor].

Typically, the first 2 years your time is filled with classes in your field of study and doing 8-10 week stints in various labs to pick the one you want to work in. Once you pick a lab (and an advisor who is technically the head of the lab), you are no longer “just” a student (although you pay tuition or your advisor pays your tuition), but either a graduate assistant (GA) or a teaching assistant (TA). GA or TA positions generally require 20-40 hours of work a week that has nothing to do with your dissertation research. Typically, its better to be a GA than a TA because you can usually run your research alongside whatever you are running for your advisor. In any case you then perform laboratory research for the next 3-5 (or in some cases 5-9) years. At the end of that time, you typically spend about 3-6 months writing your dissertation. You then defend your dissertation publicly (to anyone who shows up) and privately (to your dissertation committee). Defenses (also called final oral examinations) can be quite caustic depending on the personalities involved. Finally, you revise your dissertation as requested by your committee and fill out a mountain of paperwork and surveys in order to obtain your degree.

Then, after completing your PhD in science or engineering, you are expected to take a post-doctorate (post-doc) position where you do further research “for experience.” Post-docs can range from 2-10 years and the average salary is $38,000 a year plus health care that is slightly better than student health, but still doesn’t cover prescriptions, vision or dental. Oh, and most post-docs are expected to work 60-80 weeks. Post-docs are greatly encouraged by your advisor, because that is what they did. However, unless you want to be an academic professor, there is no real reason to do one.

Is it any wonder WHY Americans do not want to pursue advanced science and engineering degrees? I mean who wants to work for barely minimum wage when they have worked so hard to obtain an advanced degree?