In 1517 Martin Luther, the 16th century, Augustinian Friar, nailed his 95 theses to the door of a church and thus began a career as a professor of theology, protestant reformer and ultimately excommunicated church outlaw.
Fast forward to the 21st century. 7.7 billion people and counting. At least 10,000 universities (accredited and otherwise) globally. A few thousand cities and hundreds of thousands of private and public institutions. A landscape replete with employers and employees locked in an eternal swan dance in a bid to match and find the best fit for skills against jobs.
Bright undergrads are usually identified and encouraged to pursue a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degree or postdoctoral research. Lured with the desire to append the prefix “Dr.” or suffix “PhD” after their names and an illustrious career in Academia or the Public cum Private Sector ensconced in the noble world of R & D.
What the recruiters and promoters of PhDs and postdocs fail to tell the unsuspecting students is that it entails years of back breaking work for little pay with a high risk of dropping out as a result of being dispirited. It has also been suggested that Supervisors and Faculty Advisors may be partial to students who are their alumni so they may not provide the necessary push and encouragement to non-alums and foreign candidates. Those that do finish and get awarded the PhD have to contend with the added risk of not getting a professorship or being dubbed as over qualified for the limited jobs in the public and private sector.
A PhD also entails an investment in time and financial costs (tuition, living expenses, books & materials, student loans et al). The average completion time is 3 to 5 years and the costs are astronomical totalling $50,000 to over $100,000 depending on your choice of university.
In the public and private sector a PhD alone might not have more earning power or hire worthiness than a master’s degree and years of work experience and specialist training and courses aimed at career development. Employers are quick to employ applicants who have spent a shorter period of time learning the same specialist skill a PhD had spent years in the University to acquire. Some PhDs and experienced applicants often understate their qualifications when faced with the choice of limited or no jobs that fit their actual qualifications in the labour market.
Universities profit from the research of PhDs and postdocs as well as the expertise of those candidates who are given a teaching position while pursuing their doctorate degrees. The Universities do not have to worry about expanding their research and teaching staff with expensive professors when the PhDs and postdocs would do more work for less pay so its a win-win for the Universities. The PhDs and Postdocs afford them the luxury of admitting more undergraduates and undertaking more research. Which in turn funnels in more revenue from tuition and research funding to the universities.
The case for or against more PhDs and postdoc has been likened to asking whether there is too much art or culture in the world. It depends on how you look at it. No knowledge is wasted. There are those that would argue that the accretion of knowledge has a spill over effect on society, which should translate to gains for humanity in the long term.
However, the same pundits and lovers of sophy and logica are quick to point out that the myriad of PhDs and postdocs lack the requisite teamwork and communication skills to transfer and translate that knowledge to the workplace. A chink in the teaching curriculum that begs to be addressed, perhaps even as early as the undergraduate level, in readiness for employability by the labour market when they graduate.
My advice to you if you are considering pursuing a PhD or postdoc is that, before embarking on such an academic, “career changing” journey, you should weigh the pros and cons and go with what your gut tells you. If you can do that I am sure you would arrive at a decision you are happy and comfortable with.
Other sources/links:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Luther
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctorate
https://www.worldometers.info/world-population/
https://medium.economist.com/why-doing-a-phd-is-often-a-waste-of-time-349206f9addb
DrAlexanderGrey 