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nhamann comments on Open Thread June 2010, Part 3 - Less Wrong
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From the article:
I'm not sure how typical this experience is, but assuming it is as common as the article suggests: you don't see a problem with the fact that huge numbers of highly trained (~4 years for a bachelors, 5-7 for a Ph.D) are getting paid very little to work in conditions with almost no long-term job security? You see that as being perfectly fine, and comment that "capitalism works?" I'm not sure what to say. Such job prospects are decidedly unappealing (some might say intolerable), and I think it's reasonable to suggest that such conditions will result in a substantial decrease in the number of smart, dedicated young people interested in becoming scientists. This, to put it bluntly, is a fucking shame.
Maybe that was a little harsh. But the question is, why are "huge numbers of highly trained (~4 years for a bachelors, 5-7 for a Ph.D) [...] getting paid very little to work in conditions with almost no long-term job security?" The article suggests it's because we have a surplus. But if those people weren't so highly trained, would they then get those better jobs? Probably not, people don't discriminate against you because you're "highly trained".
They likely wouldn't, but I doubt that's the point. I think the point is that if they weren't so highly trained, their employment status would be more in line with their qualifications, as opposed to the current situation where Ph.Ds are doing jobs that could be done by less-credentialed people.
That sounds unlikely to me; I've heard the word 'overqualified' used to refer to that kind of discrimination.
And also, the money which is spent on useless "education" could be spent on something more useful, or at least more fun. People with mediocre incomes at least wouldn't lose a lot of flexibility from indebtedness.