Doctorate Irony

A friend on facebook posted this article entitled "The Long-Haul Degree," a lamentation about the worthlessness of doctorate degrees, particularly in this economy. Word.

Any of you who know me know that I am constantly wrestling with my doctorate--and not even in the "Oh sh*t, I have to finish this!" type of freak out but more in the vein of "This has been an exercise in futility and now we're hopelessly in debt...." kind of agony.

As much as everyone claims my doctorate, once earned, will open doors for me, blah blah blah, I just don't see it. If I could go back in time and erase it (and the 40 grand of debt I accumulated getting it) I would in a HEARTBEAT. That said, I am a much smarter person and a better teacher because of it, but when folks say you can't put a price on education I beg to differ. You can. And it's expensive. And it keeps you from buying a place to live, and saving for your kids' college, and vacationing until, um, the year 2017 when you will have paid it all off. Oh, and did I mention that as a doctoral student in Education (or another Humanities area of study) that you're never really going to make any money. I am truly hoping that my doctorate work does not end up being what financially f*cks us (my now family of four) for all eternity. No joke.

Bitter much?

But the best part of this diatribe sparked tonight was that in reading the above mentioned article in the New York Times, who should advertise their overpriced institution but Teachers College, Columbia University, the school that will one day (hopefully a year from now) be my alma mater from which I will have received my Doctorate in Education and all this additional stress. I had to take a screen shot of it b/c the irony was too too thick not to share with the world.

Sometimes you just have to laugh at it all to keep from crying.