Well, here we are in the last weeks of 2024, and I wanted to excavate this topic once more in hopes that someone might be able to shed a little light on exitiumax's question.
I completed a B.S. in History and very recently, a M.A. in Teaching as a way of mitigating some of the consequences of what definitely appears to be a bleak outlook on career possibilities (or impossibilities, rather) for those who have a Ph.D. in History. Thus, secondary education is where I'm destined to be for the foreseeable future.
Instead of looking at the Ph.D. in History as something that can "open doors to new paths" (as we've firmly established that this would be a mistake), would it be something that might "enhance the paths that we're already on"?