Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!uwvax!gumby!g-mccann
From: g-mccann@gumby.cs.wisc.edu (Lester I. McCann)
Newsgroups: comp.edu
Subject: Re: U.S. Mathematicians dying breed
Message-ID: <1245@gumby.cs.wisc.edu>
Date: 16 Dec 87 17:22:49 GMT
References: <1878@pdn.UUCP> <2424@killer.UUCP> <147@piring.cwi.nl>
Organization: U of Wisconsin CS Dept
Lines: 37
Summary: Necessity of higher degrees

In article <147@piring.cwi.nl>, varol@cwi.nl (Varol Akman) writes:
> I've come to believe that degrees aren't that important.  True, a PhD
> has more research potential than an BSc but then again this is more or
> less a rule of thumb.  A lot researchers without advanced degrees
> come up with important, even revolutionary, results.  I explain their
> success with an appeal to their intelligence, hard work, experience, etc.
> For example, various advanced products are created in companies which
> employ many more BSc's than PhDs.  Although it is true that research
> divisions of these companies have many PhDs, it is probably not true
> to assert that these solely are the people who do the major inventions or
> innovations.
> 
> -Varol Akman
> CWI, Amsterdam

Rats!  I sent a reply to Varol, intending it to be a follow-up.  I *hate* it
when that happens!

I can't say that I agree with this argument in all cases.  If you wish to
teach at the college level, you will have a hard time getting hired at all
and have an even harder time getting tenure if you "only" have a Master's.
I can understand needing to have an all-PhD faculty at a research school,
but I don't see that it makes that much difference at a "teaching" school,
where the emphasis is supposedly on teaching and not research.  In that
environment, it seems to me they'd be better off hiring good instructors,
rather than higher degrees.  (I think we all agree that many PhDs are not
good instructors.)

I speak from a small amount of experience.  I got my BS at a small university
that hired MSs as temporary faculty until they could hire people with PhDs.
One instructor in particular was a great lecturer, but he wasn't granted
tenure simply because he didn't have an interest in getting a PhD.  That
didn't make any sense to me then, and it still doesn't today.  It make me
wonder what their priorities really are.

Lester McCann
mccann@primost.cs.wisc.edu