Hi all,
I don't usually put in my two cents in these conversations, but I feel the need to say something. Those two doom-and-gloom posts from our older, and probably wiser, colleagues caught my attention. I think we ALL know, or should know, how difficult it is to get a job. I think we all know that we did not choose a practical career path. I think we all know that unless we are very very lucky and also very very flexible in our personal lives, we will be disappointed after grad school. But right now, as we sit in our respective offices and living rooms sick to our stomachs with the hope of that fellowship and the fear of some ad comm crushing our dreams, it is not helpful to remind us.
My mentor at undergrad reminded me of this every time we discussed my career. Guess what? It didn't dissuade me. I'm the better for the warning, I worked harder to prove I could hack it. I appreciate that this is a difficult job and the average-Joe-or-Jane will not make it. So what? Are we supposed to go to school and give up? To paraphrase.. be 'shocked and appalled that someone told you you could do good work and have a good diss and get a job'? Do average work and a not-so-awesome dissertation? Not me. Thanks, but no thanks.
I'm going in fully aware of the possible unemployment and the certain poverty for the foreseeable future. But don't tell me to give up my dream before I've started. And don't tell a whole generation of art historians to give up because you haven't had a particularly easy time succeeding. The job market is not huge, we are not in accounting or business or public education. But there are hundreds of institutions in this country and most of them have an art history department. Do the math. Some of us will get those jobs. Some of us won't. Some of us will be high school European history teachers. And that is admirable. What greater mission than to help young people to think critically if we can't work at a research university?
In any case, I don't mean to attack those negative posters. I just think pragmatism and cynicism are two different things. It's a little too soon to be cynical about a career I haven't started. I've spent too much time in the past couple of weeks upset because of this process. Time to turn it around, work my bum off, and hope it's enough. That's all any of us can do.
And I agree that none of us should go into significant debt to fund this. *Here's hoping for that full ride.
