Op-ed: End the University as We Know It
In the NYT today, Mark C. Taylor (no relation), the chair of the religion department at Columbia, argues that “GRADUATE education is the Detroit of higher learning.” He outlines a six-point plan for restructuring how graduate (and, later, undergraduate) educational institutions are structured and how they operate. He makes a number of good points–and a few I’m ambivalent about–but here’s one that especially resonated with me:
The dirty secret of higher education is that without underpaid graduate students to help in laboratories and with teaching, universities couldn’t conduct research or even instruct their growing undergraduate populations. […] In other words, young people enroll in graduate programs, work hard for subsistence pay and assume huge debt burdens, all because of the illusory promise of faculty appointments. But their economical presence, coupled with the intransigence of tenure, ensures that there will always be too many candidates for too few openings.
He’s talking about the more traditional kind of academic, but I think the point is a salient one for MFAs and other creative degrees as well. The idea that all, or even most, of the people who specialize in a creative discipline will then be in a position to make any sort of living at the practice of that discipline is at best a willful delusion, and at worst a pernicious lie.
Even if all people emerged from such programs equally talented (they don’t) and were producing work suitable for publication and marketable to some version of the “mainstream literary audience” (they’re not) there would be exponentially more of them than the market–for writers and/or for writing teachers–could bear (indeed, the market can’t come close to bearing what it has now). The pursuit of any sort of advanced degree in the creative arts should be understood as an opportunity to refine one’s craft for its own sake, and to give oneself the gift of a community of like-minded people. Whether you hold out for an institution that will support you in part or in full in this endeavor, or whether you choose to pay for it, is between you, your bank account, and your (anyway, my) loan officer.
Whether you “do anything with” the degree after you’ve earned it, is another question again–and a silly one, because degrees themselves don’t “do” anything. The time I spent getting my MFA made me stronger as a writer, reader, and editor. But it didn’t actually make me into those things. I was those things already, or I never would have entered the program. And now, a couple years out, being one of the very lucky few who makes his living mostly by practicing his craft (at sub-poverty wages, with no benefits and no job security–but still), I can tell you that my degree is a fine testament to what I did, but it itself doesn’t “do” much of anything. It’s not what wakes me up every morning and tells me to be a writer. My alarm clock does that.
Tags: Mark C. Taylor, MFA, NYT
Holy shit! What kind of alarm clock do you use?!
Holy shit! What kind of alarm clock do you use?!
sadly, the university’s cheap-labor structure is also reflected in those coveted slots undergrads and grads in the writing world seek: internships. not that internships can’t be useful or grad degrees either — both can be — but i agree that it’s a small percent of the larger whole that can parlay these pricey items into anything lucrative, or tangible — like a 99 cent doublestack. i assume the best defense is this sort of enlightening info. realize that we’re a bunch of hos working the strut and don’t even know it till we look down and go, woah, how’d i get into these high heels and skirt?
great post.
sadly, the university’s cheap-labor structure is also reflected in those coveted slots undergrads and grads in the writing world seek: internships. not that internships can’t be useful or grad degrees either — both can be — but i agree that it’s a small percent of the larger whole that can parlay these pricey items into anything lucrative, or tangible — like a 99 cent doublestack. i assume the best defense is this sort of enlightening info. realize that we’re a bunch of hos working the strut and don’t even know it till we look down and go, woah, how’d i get into these high heels and skirt?
great post.
It’s a setting on my cell phone, actually. And I just got a new phone so I haven’t really mastered the tones yet. This morning I thought a truck was backing up outside my window for a half hour.
It’s a setting on my cell phone, actually. And I just got a new phone so I haven’t really mastered the tones yet. This morning I thought a truck was backing up outside my window for a half hour.
I’m not sure his critique applies to MFA programs because, while many grads may expect to become writing teachers, most probably do not. An arts degree isn’t really there to train you to teach a specific sub-field of academia, whereas doing grad work on medieval religious text citation techniques (to use the article’s example) is a different story.
That said, I do think the rapid proliferation of MFA programs has probably spread a lot of “false hope” that isn’t good for anyone. I hesitate to say this, since it seems automatically elitist or something, but as you correctly point out, there are obviously far more MFA holder (not to mention wannabe writers in general, MFA or no) that could ever be published in the top journals, much less publish books at real presses or have successful careers.
While a lot of his critiques are spot on (and obvious) I didnt’ really know what to think of his solutions. He wants people to just major in vague unspecific concepts like “SPACE” and “TIME”? Sounds a little weed-inspired.
I’m not sure his critique applies to MFA programs because, while many grads may expect to become writing teachers, most probably do not. An arts degree isn’t really there to train you to teach a specific sub-field of academia, whereas doing grad work on medieval religious text citation techniques (to use the article’s example) is a different story.
That said, I do think the rapid proliferation of MFA programs has probably spread a lot of “false hope” that isn’t good for anyone. I hesitate to say this, since it seems automatically elitist or something, but as you correctly point out, there are obviously far more MFA holder (not to mention wannabe writers in general, MFA or no) that could ever be published in the top journals, much less publish books at real presses or have successful careers.
While a lot of his critiques are spot on (and obvious) I didnt’ really know what to think of his solutions. He wants people to just major in vague unspecific concepts like “SPACE” and “TIME”? Sounds a little weed-inspired.
yes and no, i think. there are all sorts of work available to peopled with some idea of language, whether copy editing, writing ad copy, journalism, teaching adjunct at community college, proofreading, technical writing, etc. with a bit of persistence most of us (grads) could land something along one of those lines. however, and it’s a big one, it might be soul killingly noncreative to the point of self loathingness. THAT is what’s always going to be in short supply, the opportunities for living off your ‘art.’
yes and no, i think. there are all sorts of work available to peopled with some idea of language, whether copy editing, writing ad copy, journalism, teaching adjunct at community college, proofreading, technical writing, etc. with a bit of persistence most of us (grads) could land something along one of those lines. however, and it’s a big one, it might be soul killingly noncreative to the point of self loathingness. THAT is what’s always going to be in short supply, the opportunities for living off your ‘art.’
At least where I go to school it’s common knowledge that the MFA isn’t going to change your life, that it’s what you do while you’re in school, outside of your classes, that will “open doors.”
My program has always placed an emphasis on community, on going to readings, on submitting work, meeting new people, getting your name out there. You go to your classes to focus on yourself, on your craft, to learn how other people do it, to learn about process. And then you go out at night and listen to others read, immerse yourself in this thing you love.
I taught children, I taught teenagers, I taught adults. I interned here and there. I read slush piles for free. I worked in an office (I still work in an office). I taught on the college level. I did whatever I could to enrich my experience. And still, next year, I’ll probably be a baker or something. And I like that idea.
MFAs are illusory on many levels. But at least your time in the program is different from your day-to-day. At least it’s a couple years of different, of fun, of exciting, of smart-making and writing-crazy.
I really like your posts, Justin. They are honest.
At least where I go to school it’s common knowledge that the MFA isn’t going to change your life, that it’s what you do while you’re in school, outside of your classes, that will “open doors.”
My program has always placed an emphasis on community, on going to readings, on submitting work, meeting new people, getting your name out there. You go to your classes to focus on yourself, on your craft, to learn how other people do it, to learn about process. And then you go out at night and listen to others read, immerse yourself in this thing you love.
I taught children, I taught teenagers, I taught adults. I interned here and there. I read slush piles for free. I worked in an office (I still work in an office). I taught on the college level. I did whatever I could to enrich my experience. And still, next year, I’ll probably be a baker or something. And I like that idea.
MFAs are illusory on many levels. But at least your time in the program is different from your day-to-day. At least it’s a couple years of different, of fun, of exciting, of smart-making and writing-crazy.
I really like your posts, Justin. They are honest.
Here, here Justin!
Here, here Justin!
Yep. Though I also think crushing debt and limited job prospects can be a nice stick to help you try to finish a book, in the hope that your advance will help take some small bite out of the debt, or at least let you keep up w/the payments for a while. As you hunch over the typewriter, there’s really nothing like private loans at 12.5 percent interest to key you in to the increasingly proximate howling of wolves.
Yep. Though I also think crushing debt and limited job prospects can be a nice stick to help you try to finish a book, in the hope that your advance will help take some small bite out of the debt, or at least let you keep up w/the payments for a while. As you hunch over the typewriter, there’s really nothing like private loans at 12.5 percent interest to key you in to the increasingly proximate howling of wolves.
Just feed the wolves all the waste paper your loan company sends you in the mail. That’s what I do. They’re the most constipated wolves I’ve ever seen.
Just feed the wolves all the waste paper your loan company sends you in the mail. That’s what I do. They’re the most constipated wolves I’ve ever seen.
Interesting post – I cant see a link to the RSS feed though.
Interesting post – I cant see a link to the RSS feed though.