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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Neocon who wrote (17887)	5/6/2000 7:16:00 PM
From: nihil	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769669

Pay differentials may not matter to you guys (who obviously don't have jobs) but there is little more important to teachers and professors than salaries. Chambermaids and waiters make far more than teachers in Hawaii (the tips are better). The university cannot provide enough education graduates to fill the openings in the schools. The union is far too weak to force a decent wage (despite the whining of the conservative, anti-school forces). The starting salaries for assistant professors with Ph.D.'s range from about $35,000 to $80,000 a year, depending upon field. Philosophers, historians and such academic trash are on the cheap end. Computer scientists, engineers, and business are at the top. We can hire some of the very best in the humanities, but most of the people in the demand fields may be pretty good, but we cannot afford good Americans, but who can tell since few of them speak English. The reason for the high pay guys is that universities must compete with private industry, especially tech and biotech start ups. My nephew, 24 years old, a bachelor in CS from Carnegie Mellon is the best paid employee in his Texas startup company. $175,000 with options. He wanted to get a Ph.D., but he can't afford it. His younger brother started teaching preschool, but after being treated like dirt decided he would just become a millionaire like his brother. You need to think a little bid about supergrades and merit pay. Unless the system is fair, it will destroy an organization. No system is fair. My 20 person department in the university knocked itself out to raise money for endowed professorships. We got enough for two. Our most world famous and productive professors applied for the chairs. The committees picked two people from outside. They are pretty good, but not IMO as good as the two professors who moved to endowed chairs at other better, higher paying universities. "Merit" can be a dangerous game.