When I was an undergraduate, we had more or less annual alcohol crackdowns on campus. My sophomore year, it was a series of "open container" stings, with cops hiding in the bushes outside various dorms, and leaping out to arrest anyone who walked outside with an empty keg cup. My classmates and I were outraged.
My junior year, there were a couple of arrests for underage drinking, and a significant tightening of the alcohol policy. My classmates and I were outraged.
My senior year, the police got hold of a college-approved party plan for a couple of freshman entires that included kegs of beer, and swore out arrest warrants for the Chief of Security, a couple of Deans, and the President of the college. The entire campus was dry for a week or two-- no parties with alcohol were approved until after the college brought in its high-priced lawyers to find some compromise to get the local police to lighten the hell up.
My classmates and I said "Wow, that sucks. If you need us, we'll be in the Pub."
The difference, of course, is that somewhere in the course of junior year, the vast majority of us turned 21, and could legally drink at the one bar in town (and eventually at the second bar that opened later that year). suddenly, the depradations of the local constbulary didn't seem like quite such and urgent problem.
I was actually a little startled when I realized how quickly I'd turned into That Guy-- the unsympathetic 21-year-old who didn't really care about the ability of underclassmen to get beer when they wanted it. I hadn't changed my basic opinion of the drinking age laws (and I still haven't, for that matter: the 21-year-old drinking age is one of the very stupidest laws on the books, and has done more harm than good), but I wasn't personally affected any more, so it slipped down the priority queue a bit.
I was reminded of this by Peter Woit's comment in the ongoing tenure discussion at Cosmic Variance:
While anybody who wants a clear picture of how the tenure system is working should take into account the difficult situation Rob is in while reading what he has to say, they should also take into account the fact that getting a permanent position in the academic system tends to come with a pair of rose-colored glasses. You might want to take this into account when getting career advice from senior people.
I'm basing this not just on observing the behavior of others, but also my own. When I had to worry about my employment prospects, I was pretty appalled at the way senior people in particle theory seemed to think that a system that trained ten times more people than there were jobs for, subjecting them to an ugly game of musical chairs which produced a lot of personal carnage, was something that worked well. After I entered a permanent (although un-tenured) position, this all of a sudden started to seem like a much more theoretical problem, not one worth getting worked up about.
I don't think I've done this, but it's really hard to say. I don't recall ever being of the opinion that the current tenure system is hopelessly broken because of the negative effects it has on junior faculty-- I think the stress is bad, and there are some things about the process that elevate the stress level to no good end, but even in the middle of the process, I think I was generally ok with things. Kate might be able to say better than I could-- she's the one who has to listen to my rants about whatever is frustrating me at the moment.
It's possible that there's been some re-ordering of my priorities in the past few months. I tend not to think so-- I've always been more positive about the academic system than many others, as my Letter to the Editor back in my post-doc days indicates-- but it's possible.
If that's the case, well, um... sorry. I'll be down at the Pub, and I'll buy you a beer if you think that'll help.
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The thing is, it seems like you've been pretty lucky throughout your career. Grad school advisor that you like, enough success on your resume from grad school and post-doc'ing to get the job you have, enough funding to get you by, not-too-complicated personal life problems (ie, no serious illness, divorce, etc.)
And if you're that lucky, you can make it through an academic career in one piece.
But I no longer think that the majority of PhD's have that experience. I think the way its depicted on PhD Comics is more common.
I agree with Mary. As a veteran of 2 PhD programs in the soft sciences, I think Piled Higher & Deeper is more representative than people think, at least in my field.
Luck certainly plays an important role. And while there's a lot you do toward making your luck, at some point it's out of your hands and some folks will just have an easier time than others.
(Of course, as someone who hasn't had great experiences, I'm more likely to share Rob's bias than yours.)
As a recently graduated undergrad alumn, I've grappled with the same conflict. It's hard to straddle that middle ground between the crotchety old alumnus ("This isn't the way things USED to be") and the cynical detached alumnus ("Well, it doesn't matter to me any more").
A lot of the stuff we undergrads used to get worked up at are pretty stupid in retrospect. I mean, it's not that big of deal that a party got canceled or the parking fees increased 10%. But some issues, like spiraling tuition, actually are important, and I'd like not to forget that even though it doesn't effect me now.
The much younger, but still wise, Chad wrote in March 2000:
"no one should go into the system with any illusions, at this point. "
Right on.
And although I agree that there are plenty of advisors out there wearing rose colored glasses, mine was not one of them. He told me up front, the first day I talked to him about being my thesis adviser, that "there are no jobs". If you looked at the graph I linked from the comments yesterday, we were on that steep downslope that resulted when "no jobs" resulted in lots of people bailing out ABD. The odds then were really bad. The odds today are great compared to 20 to 40 years ago.
I know some really bitter people who got out circa 1968. At least one is fully justified in his opinion, despite an excellent career and well-paid retirement from IBM. He saw people get jobs a few years before who were not nearly as good as he was.
Luck? I view my career as fairly lucky, given how I managed to end up where I am. If I ever figure out how to pseud all of that, I should blog it. But the few others who were "lucky" to get certain jobs had made their luck. A few were more driven than I was. A few had solid theory skills while doing experimental work. And those were the few.
Chad is lucky to be in an experimental area that is really hot, but he also had to go after a job that fit his skills and background and sell himself to get it ... and keep it.
If I were to describe the problem in grad (and post-doc) education, it is that most research faculty don't do a good job of giving job-hunting skills to their students. The ones who got a job in 1963 did not need those skills, and many passed that ignorance on to their students who are training the next crop. Some do a great job of pushing their student or post-doc out front, giving them more credit than they deserve, but others have a more personal agenda that might reflect how hard it was for them to get the job they have.
No one should ever discount the power of good luck in their career path. I've had my share, too.
On the other hand, just to be cliche about it, there is a degree to which we make our own luck. I'm sure as hell not on the career path I thought I'd be on as an undergrad-- I thought I'd have a PhD. That went off the rails. I'm not even at my first job, because the first one ranged from decent to crappy, at which point I shrugged and got the hell out.
To a degree, I have that luxury. As an engineer, I don't care what the industry doomsayers say, I'm not in anything like Rob's situation, where there are more of me than society is currently willing to support. But that might also be because I'm not fixated on The One Job. Part of making my own luck has always been the periodic stop to pick my head up from the bench and see what else is out there, and be willing to walk away.
(Hell, I almost walked away from my current job about a month ago when they got too obnoxious for their own good. But it's not time yet. Not quite yet.)