Monday, January 19, 2009

PONDERING A CAREER CHANGE...

We have a young man that lives with us (not one of our sons...but he calls The Mrs. "Mom" as he never really had a Momma). We got him through high school, and he is now going to the local Community College studying "telecommunications."

He ended his first semester about December 12 or so last year. He started back for his second semester on Friday, January 16. I'm not great at math, but that is over one month. And he is out of school today, due to the MLK holiday.

I think I'm gonna be a Community College professor. Those are some hours that I could learn to like! Now I've just got to figure what I want to profess...it won't be math or science. Maybe the English language, or public relationships, or talkin'...I mean speach speech. I don't know what the gig pays, but I'm studying on this...

4 comments:

  1. Average salary for an engineering professor in Mississippi at MSU is 92k. They average seventeen hours of class time a week.

    Teachers are UNDERPAID!

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  2. TD: Great! Then Engineering it is! I think I'd rather coach football at MSU, as there would be no expectations for success, but I'll profess Engineering instead.

    Just don't drive over any bridges in Mississippi in about 20 years...if you know what's good for you.

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  3. Let' take a look at professors some more....

    The "average" professor in any field has done a few things... to get where they are.

    1. 10-12 years of college. That means giving up income for all of those years, and usually accumulating debt for all of those years.
    2. Many, especially business, engineering, math and other technical fields, could more than double what they earn in private business.
    3. 17 hours per week in class looks great. But the 10 hours of dealing with idiotic committee assignments, 10 hours of dealing with students outside of class, (Dr. X, I missed your class today. Did we do anything important?) 17 hours of preparing for class each week and 5-10 hours per week grading. Then let's throw in the obligation to do research and academic writing if they want to keep their jobs. It takes a dedicated person to stay in teaching.
    4. If you think politics in regular working organizations is bad, you ain't seen nothing like the petty politics at a university.

    Anyway, the grass always looks greener. If it really were, the field would quickly be over-grazed and there wouldn't be any grass left.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Walt: Nyuk, Nyuk, Nyuk! I posted that just for your benefit.

    I wouldn't be a college professor if they held a gun to my head. That's not likely though, as I've not done the 10 to 12 years of college required. I was busy at the time with other pursuits (ha ha). I wouldn't mess with a couple of hundred 19 to 20 somethings for all the tea in China.

    And you make good points about salary. My Uncle Neal, and my cousin Lee both gained their degree in Mathematics. They have both made about a bazillion dollars working in the oil business, as an actuary, and doing other stuff that mathematicians do. If they had decided to stay in the academy and teach Math...well, not so many bazillions...

    And, I'll bet it's like a round-table cluster when it comes to politics in Academia...probably worse than the military.

    Like I said, I put that one up for you, Walt. I know that you like what you do. That is truly the only reason to do it in my book.

    ReplyDelete

Don't cuss nobody out, okay?