ronin phd

Tenured professors, mostly older, but some freshly minted, that:

1) Attribute their success within the academy to their ability in an admittedly competitive yet fair race. (Go read “Outliers” by Malcolm Gladwell.)

2) Put the responsibility (and blame) solely on PhD’s for having few career opportunities within the academy.

3) Believe that the hierarchical structure of academia only incidentally uses and exploits the efforts of the lowest tiers, to the benefit of the highest tiers. They deny that such a situation has arisen by design or that its perpetuation is intentional (There is no such thing as an accidental ponzi scheme).