Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!cmcl2!rutgers!ames!lamaster
From: lamaster@ames.arpa (Hugh LaMaster)
Newsgroups: comp.edu
Subject: Re: U.S. Mathematicians dying breed
Message-ID: <3608@ames.arpa>
Date: 10 Dec 87 02:21:27 GMT
References: <2376@killer.UUCP>
Reply-To: lamaster@ames.UUCP (Hugh LaMaster)
Organization: NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif.
Lines: 18

In article <2376@killer.UUCP> elg@killer.UUCP (Eric Green) writes:
>[excerpted from an AP news article in the local newspaper:]
>

>An annual survey found that nationwide only 362 U.S. citizens got doctorates
>in math during the 1986-1987 school year. The decline in graduate researchers
>is blamed in large part on a decades-old shortage of qualified teachers at the
>elementary and secondary level.

Far be it from me to discourage anyone from getting a PhD in Mathematics.
However, these surveys never tell you how many openings per year
there really are.  We have been hearing about doctor shortages, Mathematician
shortages, Engineer shortages, programmer shortages, etc. for a long time.  
However, I have never seen a long term shortage in any technical field, despite
what the papers say.  The best advice I could give would be to study what you
love, but be prepared to work for money when you get through, and be prepared
to change careers if necessary.  There is always a shortage of the "right people"
in any field, but for the rest of us, flexibility is a requirement..