Doctoral Entitlement?

Abstract

I was astounded to read the letter by Roger Floyd (11 Apr., p. 183) suggesting that an institution that grants a doctoral degree has a responsibility to provide employment for the recipient of that degree. The institution that grants the degree fulfills its responsibility by providing an individual with access to the graduate education, guiding a student's research, providing him the opportunity to study, and examining his work to see whether he is qualified to receive the Ph.D. Graduate education is not a search for money; it is a search for education, for intellectual achievement, for excellence in study. If advanced study in a field results in more remunerative employment, fine; if it does not, one may enjoy the learning for the sake of being more knowledgeable about life. A Ph.D. is not about getting a better job; it is about an internal feeling of accomplishment. # {#article-title-2} Floyd's letter is an affront to hard-working people. To suggest that a person should be guaranteed a standard of living because that person's choice of a career was not a wise one is ludicrous. I and many people have put a lot of years into learning and keeping current with proper work practices. We do get a stipend from the government when times are bad; it is called unemployment. If someone with a Ph.D. cannot find any work in his chosen field because there is a surplus of talent, then he will have to find a different field of endeavor. That has happened to many Americans in the past 20 years.