Academia is Broken

Academia spits out its best and brightest at an alarming rate. How can we change that?

[RebekahSolWest]

I admit I had never really considered your point about careers in social sciences and other fields only being accessible to people who already have wealthy families. It makes complete sense.
The I ended up leaving a PhD program in the ‘physical’ sciences with an MS (in the US), because I didn’t fit well with my advisor’s hand-off style and my mental health couldn’t handle it, but learning about the grueling competition for tenure and the financial insecurity of adjunct professorship made me very pessimistic about my prospects in academia (apparently a significant number of adjuncts need to go on food stamps). I was very lucky that rather than having to pay for myself, graduate programs in the ‘physical’ sciences usually come with a (rather meager but livable) stipend (at least here in the US).
In better news, some graduate schools in the US are finally unionizing, and grad workers are fighting for higher pay and benefits. The administrations at a few high-profile schools even voluntarily recognized their unions, though others have had to fight and appeal to the National Labor Relations Board.

[naomimoore]

I went to University in the early 1980s and found myself being looked down on for my Yorkshire accent and lack of money. After spending a few months in a dingy damp house share, my mental health broke and I had to return home. It broke my heart not to be able to pursue my academic dream and now I'm too old. Thanks for the video.

[GraeHall]

This was, educational. I learned that yet again, important parts of the world are pay to win. And rich white guys have it easy while everyone else gets screwed over. Great video.