tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5455782214242472677.post3383290049774673663..comments2024-03-14T20:55:21.709+09:00Comments on Janne In Osaka: Too Few Science Students?Jan Morenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06834641501438709866noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5455782214242472677.post-48139603373728569772009-09-29T17:52:32.950+09:002009-09-29T17:52:32.950+09:00Tenure and its equivalent was what I had in mind w...Tenure and its equivalent was what I had in mind when I wrote that <br /><br /><i>"In a sense, a permanent position as a research university professor or marine biologist is akin to breaking into the big time as a musician or writer in that few that embark on the career will ever reach such a point of stability, pay and status."</i><br /><br />In other words, if you reach that point you've made it so to speak - status, salary and stability. But only a few percent of all graduate students embarking on an academic career actually get that far; most will drop out or get stuck somewhere along the way in unstable short-term teaching or project-specific contracts, and usually at a fairly low salary level. It's the nature of the system of course, as there's far more eligible people at every level than there's positions for them.<br /><br />It is, I believe, similar to the situation for, say, classical musicians, or photographers, or many other status- or coolness-driven fields. Which is not really surprising as within the science field, academic research is viewed as fairly high-status (at least by those doing it) and creating the same kind of incentives.<br /><br />So if you talk about academic science specifically, then it's already the equivalent of "cool", and there's more people wanting to do it than are actually able. There's no shortage and no reason to raise incentives further.Jan Morenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06834641501438709866noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5455782214242472677.post-64627063304363617182009-09-29T17:32:47.122+09:002009-09-29T17:32:47.122+09:00Is this post about Japan specifically or the world...Is this post about Japan specifically or the world in general? In the world in general there is a thing called tenure that comes with the title of Lecturer or Associate Professor. In Japan, this used to be the case but is perhaps less so now. But (gasp) even marine biologists can get tenure.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com