Left Pipeline: Why Conservatives Don’t Get Doctorates

American Enterprise Institute ^ | Matthew Woessner, Ph.D., April Kelly-Woessner, Ph.D.

[aruanan]

I’m a conservative and I have a doctorate from the University of Chicago’s Biological Sciences Division.

[M. Dodge Thomas]

The focus of this study was on the “Liberal Arts” - there a plenty of conservatives in engineering and a substantial number in the “hard” sciences.

[wideawake]

No matter what job you have, there will be politics.

In academia, every single party, cocktail hour, coffee shop discussion, etc. seemed to revolve around intradepartmental career strategy and gossip.

In business, people will actually talk about sports or a recent movie instead, at least some of the time.

[Trajan88]

This thread reminds me of a book I just read (is a most worthy read)...

From Publishers Weekly "... Williams's remarkable 1965 novel offers a window on early 20th century higher education in addition to its rich characterizations and seamless prose. Sent by his hard-scrabble farmer father to the University of Missouri to study agriculture, William Stoner is sidetracked by an obsessive love of literature and stimulated by a curmudgeonly old professor, Archer Sloane. Sloane helps Stoner avoid service in WWI, and Stoner eventually becomes an assistant professor. He then meets and marries a St. Louis beauty, Edith, who quickly subjugates her contemplative, passive husband. As decades pass, Stoner entrenches himself deep into the life of the mind, developing into a master teacher but never finding solace in the outside world. Stoner's single joy is Grace, their daughter, whom Edith appropriates as a weapon in her very personal war against Stoner's quest for inner peace."

[okie01]

A fundamental difference between liberals and conservatives is their attitude toward and reliance upon government.

Most liberals have never received any adult income from anything other than a government or its institutions -- be it a paycheck or a grant. For purposes of this statement, foundations are akin to institutions of government.

Most conservatives have never received any adult income from a government or its institutions -- until they got their first social security check.

Liberals go to work for the government. Conservatives go to work for a business. Or themselves.

The two can really be accurately identified by their chosen career track, post-college.

[lonestar67]

It is silly not to understand that academics HATE Republicans, conservatives, and Christians.

[thefactor]

i am currently in a master's program. i interact with PHD students on daily basis. also, of course all my professors are PHD's as well. i do not know one who is conservative.

they are all very nice and they know where i am coming from and respect my opinion, but all they want to do is hide out in academia and publish research papers. the PHD students have been working on their degrees from anywhere from 3-8 years and lament how far they are from being done. but i know they love siting in their little offices all day going over spreadsheets.

me? i'll take the streets any day over that life.

[PLK]

This is actually a complex issue, and if you aren't familiar with the workings of a DI research institution, it might take some info to understand.

First of all, there's a difference between a "PhD" and the professional doctorate, or what's more commonly known as an M.D. (your doctor), D.V.M. (your vet), D.D.S. (your dentist), etc.

A PhD is primarily a research degree, meaning that the holder has not only "mastered" the content of their discipline, but is also trained in the skills required to research and acquire new knowledge. It requires a lot of content in the areas of research methods and statistics.

Some professions have difficulty attracting new faculty because the people who have the talent and/or the degree in hand can make LOTS more money in their respective industries than they can possibly make in academia. I am an example of this issue. I am an R.N. with a PhD in Nursing Administration, making me as rare as hen's teeth, but horribly underpaid in my university position compared to what I could make in a hospital setting.

I do research and teaching related to health care informatics and patient outcomes, but I could make approximately double what I do now if I was employed in a management position in a hospital setting.

[PLK]

I actually meant to reply to Chode on this.

[Chode]

yup... see #19

[TChris]

"Since conservatives place an especially high priority on financial security and raising a family, the academy needs to make efforts to adopt more family-friendly policies...

"As graduate school is not financially lucrative and pre-tenure faculty careers often leave little time for family. Given these demands, the career of an academic is not especially appealing to individuals who place a priority on “raising a family.”

LOL!

The author sounds as if he believes this situation is unintentional.

Poor, naive thing.

[Da Coyote]

It does compute. A typical lib arts holder has little chance of doing well in any profession - EXCEPT - academia...where it appears that one can gain fame and some fortune by publicly making a fool of oneself (see Ward Churchill and friends). However, thanks to our lib friends in academia and public “service”, even we techie types will be out of work also...since all of our intellectual accomplishments are sold to China (to help pay for Clinton campaigns). If we want to put the hurt to liberal foolishness, let’s start making academic departments actually produce useful product. That should crimp the fuzzy folks.

[Da Coyote]

I must also state that I am fully aware that there are a plethora of lib arts types out there who are honest, moral, and brilliant. I simply believe that they are allowing some very silly people to besmirch their professions.

[Antoninus]

Based on my experience, a PhD in the liberal arts is a worthless degree that practically anyone with a functioning brain can attain. Most of the folks (not all, mind you) that went through the process to get one did so for reasons of vanity and personal prestige rather than true intellectual curiosity. They just love to be called "Doctor" and the existence in the ivory tower suits them just fine.

Conservatives generally don't bother with such degrees because they tend to be doers rather than teachers. Most of the conservative PhDs I have encountered were people who were successful in a career, raised a family, then went back to school to get their doctorate in a field that really interested them. Most of the liberals with doctorates I've known were career academics who could barely fill up their own gas tanks.

[hosepipe]

[ What about Dr. Sean Hannity? ]

OR Doctor Micheal Savage..

[BunkDetector]

I’m sure vetvetdoug knows all that.
He spent 7 years on a university campus to get the DVM.
jeez...

[littlehouse36]

The Wizard: Why, anybody can have a brain. That's a very mediocre commodity! Every pusillanimous creature that crawls on the earth or slinks through slimy seas has a brain! Back where I come from, we have universities, seats of great learning where men go to become great thinkers. And when they come out, they think deep thoughts — and with no more brains than you have. But! They have one thing you haven't got! A diploma! Therefore, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Universita Committeeatum E Pluribus Unum, I hereby confer upon you the honorary degree of Th.D.

Scarecrow: "Th.D."?

The Wizard: That's, er, "Doctor of Thinkology".

Scarecrow: [Rapid] The sum of the square roots of any two sides of an isosceles triangle is equal to the square root of the remaining side. [Normal, amazed] Oh, joy! Rapture! I've got a brain! How can I ever thank you enough?

[ansel12]

“”Since conservatives place an especially high priority on financial security and raising a family, the academy needs to make efforts to adopt more family-friendly policies...
“As graduate school is not financially lucrative and pre-tenure faculty careers often leave little time for family. Given these demands, the career of an academic is not especially appealing to individuals who place a priority on “raising a family.”

---

“Well... for one thing, you don’t spend your first 8-10 years in the military paying your own room and board.

Or find yourself 60-100K in debt to pay for your training upon involuntary separation.”

---

I don’t think that that liberals getting doctorates and living the life of a PHD have traditionally had it harder than career soldiers, so I don’t get you on that.

Conservatives always managed to fill the military career needs even though it did not offer financial rewards or was conducive to raising a family.

[comebacknewt]

Got my PhD in Business Management in 2000 and have been a faculty member ever since.

While in school during the 2000 election, I found the faculty to be split about 50/50 politically.

50% voted for Gore and 50% voted for Nader. True story.

[PLK]

Sorry. I know. See my next post.