My parents were social upstarts. They believed as did many parents of people who are currently in their late 20s and early 30s that higher education was the path to a higher social class, a better life.
Sadly, they were tragically wrong. When I began school I kept a journal in which I wrote the following.
“I gotta pick a major and fast! My advisor told me I need to declare by the start of my sophmore year. I don’t know what to do… I mean I know I don’t want to do science or anything like that. I really want to do something that makes a difference. I think social science is where that really happens… but do I wanna do Soc or Poli Sci. I don’t know.”
10 years and almost 100,000 dollars in debt later, I would sell my grandmother’s teeth for ten dollars.
In the last ten years, I have watched professors screw students (both literally and metaphorically) been witness to falsification of data on major research projects, been privy to hiring committees in which individuals stated “I don’t wanna hire another damn white guy!” and another committee in which the same individual claimed, “What do we need an asian in the department for?”
In short, I am fed up with academia. I have been dragging along all these “secrets” for too long. Sebastian Wolfe is a fake name. I have to eat. I have to function in this industry, an industry in which people keep grudges for a lifetime. But I do not have to silently bear it. Neither do you. I invite you to share your experiences here!
I advise you for your own professional good do not use real names.
