Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!cmcl2!rutgers!mtune!codas!usfvax2!pdn!reggie
From: reggie@pdn.UUCP (George W. Leach)
Newsgroups: comp.edu
Subject: Re: U.S. Mathematicians dying breed
Message-ID: <1940@pdn.UUCP>
Date: 21 Dec 87 17:37:33 GMT
References: <1878@pdn.UUCP> <2424@killer.UUCP> <147@piring.cwi.nl> <516@usl-pc.UUCP>
Reply-To: reggie@pdn.UUCP (George W. Leach)
Organization: Paradyne Corporation,   Largo FL
Lines: 58

In article <516@usl-pc.UUCP>  writes:

>Well, considering that a person with a PhD/CS can get over $50K/year
>quite easily, while the numbers for BS/CS hover around 35K/year, it
>would seem that there would be more people going for PhDs than there
>is. The problem is that pure capitalism does not exist. A little fly
>in the ointment called "human nature" intervenes. Most folks who've
>just finished 4 years of college feel like they're on top of the
>world, that they can do everything, the whole world's out there to
>conquer, and why wait for a lousy PhD? 

     First, thinking along the lines of pure capitalism:  How long will
it take the holder of a BS/CS to attain a salary of $50K/year after
starting at an entry level of $35K/year?  Now compair that with how many
years it will take to earn a PhD.  Well now, of course you can say that
by the time you get a PhD the starting salary for one will have risen
as well.  But the person with the BS/CS will be pulling in $35K/year
and then some as s/he get raises each year (assuming of course that the
company is successful and engages in such practices).  And the person
who is earning a PhD will be skimping along until graduation day comes.

     The reasons that one pursues a PhD are not economic.  You have to have
deeper motives than that or you would not be able to endure the stress and
economic hardship it takes to do so!  In fact, economics is what keeps me
from attempting to earn one!  With a family to support I just can not
afford to go back to school full time.  And going part time, from what I
have been told, is next to impossible.


>As for the value of a PhD: Basically, it signifies that the person is
>an expert in his particular area. Where that is most significant is in
>teaching... I really wouldn't want be at a school with a BS/CS program
>where the classes are mostly taught by grad students and other people
>who are at the BS level. Yet, because of a variety of factors,
>including the limited number of people recieving PhD's, it's becoming
>rarer and rarer for a typical BS student at a lower-tier college or
>university to see a true-to-life PhD. 


      Isn't that the truth!  When I was an undergraduate, every single 
full time faculty member held a PhD.  Virtually *NO* TA's taught.  When
I was working on my MS (part time) I go involved by teaching in the
evenings.  The reason was that the CS department had become so large
that they were useing *20* TA's to teach undergraduate courses!!!!


      I know that the "Good Olde Days" were not really all that good and
that we can not change the sudden popularity of a CS education.  However,
something must be done to ensure that the quality of the students being
produced does not fall below certain standards due to an overburdened
teaching staff!


-- 
George W. Leach					Paradyne Corporation
{gatech,rutgers,attmail}!codas!pdn!reggie	Mail stop LF-207
Phone: (813) 530-2376				P.O. Box 2826
						Largo, FL  34649-2826