Corporate Universities and the Unsung Graduate Student Hero

We've been talking here about our incredibly underpaid forays into academic teaching (see the comments). Turns out being an underpaid graduate student is not, in fact, a necessary stepping-stone to a tenure track job. That's just a fantasy that "the university" (and I mean this in the generic, not as a commentary on my own institution) perpetuates to maintain an underpaid labor pool of graduate student and adjunct teachers. These are the people who not only teach "our" college kids, but maintain the university as a profitable institution so that money can be poured into administrator salaries and competitive college sports teams.

Marc Bousquet's new book, "How the University Works," is a depressing read for those of us already trapped in this cycle, and a clear warning to those thinking of entering it. You can read the introduction online. If you are thinking of going to graduate school, you should read this book, then run for the hills.