Besides, the market seven years from now is almost impossible to predict. Nonetheless, we have to say something to our students who are graduating today with a Ph.D. and, perhaps, no academic job lined up. Of course, the irony is that, just as we make our dire predictions, publications like The Chronicle report that this year's academic job market is the best it's been for a long time. Moreover, in our self-centered haughtiness, we forget that many other employers besides colleges and universities hire Ph.D.'s. Elementary and secondary schools need better teachers, we say.
Community colleges teach more and more of our undergraduates.
Sure, tell them about the current academic job market, but then let them study what they want to study. That is their choice, not ours. The University of Florida has the resources to give qualifying applicants financial support, and the faculty members and facilities to help educate them. The university welcomes graduate students who want to study and learn, to acquire advanced knowledge and academic skills, whatever the students' long-term, professional goals. We encourage students to get Ph.D.'s and other advanced degrees, because we believe that graduate education is good for students, good for our state, and good for our nation.