Tenure-track people I know are out-to-lunch with encouraging graduate study.

Something that's been increasingly apparent on Facebook is how out-to-lunch a lot of tenure-track people are in encouraging graduate study to (mostly undergrads) who work under them.

One guy I studied with in Ph.D. put something up proudly about his one student getting accepted at a top Humanities Ph.D. program, and another woman who I've known for years put something up about her one student getting into a top MA with a half (!) tuition scholarship (which means at least $40K in debt!!!), and these other profs I know are actually *beginning* a Ph.D. program at their mid-level state school.

I haven't said anything, but in most cases, at least one Facebook commenter is like, "Are you sure this is such a good idea to encourage them towards this career path..?".

What I find astounding, though, is how blithely these profs encourage this career path.  They *know* that people are getting f*cked worse and worse, but it's like their minds shut off when it's one of their students, since they get an ego-boost out of guiding someone.

The other week I was talking with my one (half British) (half Sudanese) friend, and he said this thing that he's been saying lately.

"You know, take a look at all of these professors," he was like, "I honestly don't want to be like them.  In a lot of cases, they're really quite horrible people."