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99centstalepretzel t1_j9km631 wrote

Reply to comment by DitchTheCubs in Striking Temple University graduate students overwhelming vote down proposed contract by diatriose

Yup. This bullshit is why I left grad school halfway through - it was when I realized that people who go to grad school have supportive parents and/or money/generational wealth. I didn't, and the TA/research job that I had paid me about that much $10-15/hour (but I only worked 20 hours per week, and still had to work a second job to make ends meet). But somehow, I'm still supposed to produce some fucking spectacular work that only 4 professors will read and can have an impact on my career as an academic? FUCK THAT NOISE. It was one of the hardest decisions that I've had to make in my 20s, because *this is what I wanted to do*, and *what I wanted to do* is what everyone wants for themselves, right?! We have all these trite clichés that cover how we're all supposed to love our dream job or whatever, right????

Like, I enjoy learning things and I love the feeling of teaching others about the things that I was excited about - but I shouldn't be taking a vow of poverty to do it (I mean, I could go and be a nun, but at least I consented to doing that). I now work in the private sector as an admin-bot (and have been for about 10 years), but at least I get health benefits and I can afford rent, and I don't feel like a piece of shit every day from out-of-touch professors telling me how I'm supposed to "suck it up" because they did too (while their parents gave them a monthly salary, with the questionable wealth).

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TheeFreshOne t1_j9knhbb wrote

Couldn't agree more. This is also the reason there is so little diversity in academia, if you come from low income or working class family, these degrees are about 5x harder and take more time to become "profitable" in the long run. It's a combination of indentured servitude and professional hazing.

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99centstalepretzel t1_j9kp9l9 wrote

The whole "groveling as a form of hazing, and we hate you until you're utterly broken, and then *MAYBE, JUST MAYBE* we'll love you" straight up killed me.

I came up from one of the worst school districts in the area, and you want me to do WHAT? FOR WHY???????? Oh, bitch, you wouldn't last a second in a middle school fight, you can't be talking to me like that.

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Philodemus1984 t1_j9knag4 wrote

You’re absolutely correct that it’s easier to go to grad school if you come from wealth (of course it’s easier to do most things if you come from wealth). But there are a good number of grad students who earn their PhDs that come from working class or sometimes even impoverished circumstances. I know several here at temple. I myself am an academic who comes from more of a working class background. So not every successful grad student you meet was born with a silver spoon in their mouth. However, being upper class is obviously a huge advantage.

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99centstalepretzel t1_j9knzgm wrote

Yes, I know. There's one or two people from working-class background who make it. You know as good and well as I do that Academia (in its current form) doesn't seem to want more of them though.

Which, again, brings me back to my point: Pay these grad students properly, so they can live the dream that I had. Because things should be better now than when I found them. And the fact that we're still talking about the same shit that I had to deal with when I was in grad school is infuriating.

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