As our oldest daughter says, this is what a biologist looks like on vacation.
My husband, Julian, went to college for eight years to earn his doctorate. He then put in four years as a “post-doc,” learning his specialty. That’s about what an MD puts in, and believe me, he’s smart enough to be an MD.
However, fortunately for everyone but the people who could sell us luxury goods if we were rich, the man really, really loves doing the kind of basic science that leads to the kinds of discoveries that change lives. He also loves teaching kids to love science.
Furthermore, although I know people think university professors only work 12 hours a week (that’s how long they’re in class, after all), get their summers off, and lie around loafing the rest of the time, my husband worked until 9:00 PM last night, and nearly midnight the night before. He ALWAYS has papers to write, tests to grade, research to do, students to help one-on-one, peer reviews to do, class prep to do. Believe me, it NEVER ENDS.
The people in our state can take away or radically cut his benefits, pathetic as they are. (We’re in a “right-to-work” state — which means “workers-have-no-rights.”) Last year, he got to work for two weeks for free, because of the budget crisis — and believe me, paying for his salary and benefits did not cause the budget crisis. The budget crisis was brought about by the people on Wall Street, and by our elected representatives who turned their backs while Wall Street screwed us all. (AND by the idiots in our state legislature who cut real estate taxes radically and shifted the burden of paying for education onto a sales tax — just in time to meet a roaring recession.)
Now, how much do you think he could make if he were working this hard, with his education and level of expertise, as a chemical engineer? And how much do you think he’s making as a college professor? It would be amusing to see what Bill O’Reilly thinks he makes, given his notions about what public school teachers make. If you get your ideas about the salaries of America’s educators from sources like Fox News, you should take whatever number you think he makes and then cut it in half. And I’ll bet you’ll still be on the high side. Even if he got the kinds of benefits I got when I was working for the state of Ohio (and he doesn’t), that still wouldn’t come close to closing the gap between what he makes as a professor and what a science doctorate plus 20+ years’ experience would earn him in the private sector.
What benefits we here in the “right-to-work” South have, we have largely because universities down here have to compete in the same job market with universities in states like Ohio and Wisconsin, where benefits have traditionally been used to balance the relatively poor pay one gets as an academic in the United States.
I used to work for the state of Ohio, which is not a “right-to-work” state. Ohio pays its employees pretty poorly, but it does offer them good benefits. But, believe me, I used to look at the huge gap between what I was making with my education and experience working for OSU, and what I could have made in the private sector. And I was tempted.
My husband, thus far, has not been too sorely tempted. He puts up with the low pay, the sub-par benefits, and the misperceptions about how much (or little) he does to earn his pay largely for two reasons: the personal satisfaction he gets from his job, and the fact that the people who really count (his peers and the kids he teaches) do understand how hard he works and how valuable he is. He also happens to have my complete support; I’d rather see him happy than rich.
But even Julian could reach the end of his rope, you know. If things get much worse in our state, we will not be much better off with him working than we would be living on Social Security and our retirement savings. And if he leaves, well, good luck replacing him. Why on earth would some newly-minted young Ph.D. choose public service over private industry these days, with benefits shrinking and public respect for public servants vanishing?
So, if you WANT the bottom feeders teaching your children and maintaining your infrastructure and managing your tax money, go ahead! Bust the unions and cut benefits to public employees.
But don’t say I didn’t warn you.
