[Shaun J. Russell]

Originally Posted by Maryann Corbett

Shaun, you will have to forgive me for reading only this far in your post, but at this point I keeled over laughing. You will be sadly disillusioned if you think that the PhD guarantees that a teacher will have "the best and the brightest" students.

No forgiveness needed! What I was going for, though I didn't really state it too well, was that if I ever do want to teach the brighter students at some juncture, I'll need my PhD. Not that having a PhD will mean that I'll necessarily be able to teach bright students.

I'm not thinking about PhD at this point though. I'm keeping my goal fairly reasonable: teaching English at a community college. If things go well for my wife and I financially and I feel the need to move on, then I'll consider the PhD route. But for the time being, I'm happy with my current trajectory, and quite certain it's what I'd like to do. I've had other careers (probably three in total), but none of them have had the balance of enjoyability and practicality. They've fallen on either side of that particular see-saw, and I'm fortunate enough to be at a point in my life where I can finally go back and "repurpose" myself.

[Kimberly Poitevin]

What Maryann said and more. I sent you a PM.

Kim

[W.F. Lantry]

Originally Posted by E. Shaun Russell

none of them have had the balance of enjoyability and practicality.

Shaun, my dear, deluded Shaun,

I love your enthusiasm. It has a rare and naive charm. It really is heartening to see.

I suggest you walk down to your local english department. Find an experienced professor who's holding office hours. Ask him about "enjoyability." If you want a real earful, ask *her*. There's a reason they call it the Anguish Department. Now go look in the parking lot, and see what kind of cars they drive.

Every english professor worth his or her salt discourages anyone who wishes to go into the profession. "Go back to your farm, and work the earth" is a standard line. "Go home and work for your father's construction business" also has a good track record. Or, if the professor is a Zappa fan, she'll quote Cosmic Debris: "You could make more money as a butcher, so don't waste your time..."

This isn't recent, it's a centuries old tradition. The ones who weren't cut out for the field take the advice. The ones who are destined for it won't listen, no matter how discouraging the people they respect are. I've discouraged every one who's asked. A few didn't listen, and they've written me later, thanking me for at least warning them.

So here's my best warning: to play this game, you need a doctorate. It should be in rhetoric (literature is vanity). To get a doctorate in rhetoric, you have to love the field, really love arguing about Cicero and Quintillian and Pierre de la Ramee and Kenneth Burke, late into the night. It's fascinating stuff. But if you're starting from a B.A., you're looking at seven to nine years of poverty.

At at the end of that? Maybe there'll be a job, if you're lucky. Somewhere else: Wyoming, central Alabama. You'll start as an assistant at about 40K. After seven years, you might make associate, with a 5K raise.

Need to hear more? There's plenty of other things where those came from. Can I introduce you to the joys of the curriculum committee?

Best,

Bill

[D.J.H. Bryant]

Hi Shaun,

First, full disclosure, I teach part-time at a university but not in the English Dept. I have, however, taught undergraduate linguistics and trying to teach phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, etc. has similar challenges.

So, here are my thoughts, for what they are worth. Based on your previous job history, you've probably got some marketable skills. You may want to consider landing a non-teaching job at your university. Hear me out on this. Most schools offer full-time employees free tuition. Let them pay you a decent wage while you earn your MA. Depending on the job you find, you may actually be making more than the assistant and associate profs on the tenure track. During your MA studies, you'll get a feel for the department and your day job will provide you with an entirely different education about the facts of life in higher education.

Then, once you have your MA or are close to it, you can make a much more informed decision about what you want. Being an adjunct has its pros and cons. First, if you have a day job that pays the bills, you can teach mainly for the enjoyment of it. There is freedom in that. Publish or perish, for example, won't keep you up at night. Depending on the politics of the department, you may be treated like a second-class citizen, but as the tenure-track folks jockey for Power! Prestige! and influence over life-and-death matters in the curriculum committee, you can keep your eye on the ball and teach. (Actually, it was Bill invoking the curriculum committee that pushed me to respond here.)

As for teaching the best and brightest, I can only tell you that I get the most satisfaction out of teaching the students who have to struggle with the material for a little while before they get it. The best and brightest will succeed whether it's me or someone else doing the teaching. But witnessing that moment when a student gets it is my drug of choice and I'm not ashamed to admit that I'm hopelessly addicted. If you've already had that experience, you know what I mean. If you haven't yet, just wait. You will--and then God help you.

Regards,
Devlin

[Katie Hoerth]

I'll second Devlin's advice. I did the same thing -- while working on my masters I worked as a counselor for the university I studied at. Free tuition! Plus, a pretty marketable skill and it was a rewarding job. So while many of my fellow grad students were astrugglin' to make it on their little stipends, I was making decent money (though, trying to stuff my readings in between appointments was, well, fun! but I managed).