Where the Raises Are: Trucking and Academia

Discussion in 'Off-Topic Discussions' started by Randell1234, May 4, 2013.

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  1. Randell1234

    Randell1234 Moderator

    Maybe it is time for a career change...Where the Raises Are: Trucking and Academia - Yahoo! Finance

    So what do truckers and professors have in common? Ms. Swonk observes that their jobs are both hard to either outsource or automate, unlike a lot of other occupations.

    That is becoming less true for professors, though, in the age of massive open online courses, or MOOCs. MOOCs help schools cut down on labor costs by scaling up the number of students who can be taught by a single professor — in some cases, a professor they don’t even directly employ. And professors are worrying about being displaced. As The Chronicle of Higher Education reported Thursday, faculty members in the philosophy department at San Jose State University released an open letter saying they refuse to adopt a MOOC with lectures from a Harvard professor because they don’t want to enable efforts to “replace professors, dismantle departments, and provide a diminished education for students in public universities.”

    On the other hand, MOOCs could still push up the overall level of wages for people employed at colleges by changing the composition of workers on those payrolls; the superstar professors whose lectures are featured in large-scale online courses will continue to be paid a lot, while the lower-wage professor jobs at community colleges and other strapped schools could be eliminated altogether, stripping out the bottom part of the pay distribution in higher education.
     
  2. Maniac Craniac

    Maniac Craniac Moderator Staff Member

    If ever there was a thread more worthy of a Steve Levicoff grand return...

    (I'm sure he's reading this, thinking "how does the goofball with the bad jokes and annoying signature know who I am?").
     
  3. ebbwvale

    ebbwvale Member

    It is interesting that over the years academics have argued for restructuring of industries and the introduction of new technologies that have decimated other professions and industries. How do they then adopt a "not in my backyard" mentality for themselves?

    Wheelwrights, typewriter mechanics, wagonbuilders, steam engine manufacturers, stone axe makers, and a litany of others have all had to adjust, like MDs had to learn to wash their hands before examining a patient (only took 30 years apparently). Maybe they need to reinvent how they do business and adapt to the world like the rest of us, rather than expecting the world to "retrofire the rockets" for them?
     
  4. ryoder

    ryoder New Member

    Its about time for an educational revolution isn't it? The teachers unions will fight this tooth and nail though.
     
  5. Koolcypher

    Koolcypher Member

    I think this college and its professors are onto something here:

    [​IMG]
     

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