I Might Have Fallen For That When I Was 14, And a Little More Green

I've talked about people's expectations about the job market when they start grad school, and how out of touch they can be. There are a lot reasons for that, but profs and philosophy departments really ought to help people see things more clearly, not less.

Well take a look at this.

The Philosophy job market is just now beginning to change from conditions of severe shortage of jobs to ones where, in a few years, there will likely be a shortage of candidates. Thus, from a career point of view, this may be the best time to enroll in a PhD program in about 30 years.

So says the Simon Fraser philosophy department, up in the untamed forests of British Columbia. One thing's true here, the job market is better than it was in the 90s. But where the fuck does anyone get the idea there's ever going to be a shortage of candidates? What could make someone believe that?

Besides the jaw-dropping dishonesty, the thing to see here is the tone. It's exactly the vague, fact-free optimism grad students seem to have about the market when they start their programs. They get it from bullshit like this--bullshit I pulled from a page pitching Simon Fraser's PhD program to prospective students.