“Isn’t that the point?”
Yes and no.

In my opinion, specialization is the real trap here. The hazing MA/MS and PhD students endure in their programs is largely caused by the incestuousness of being so hyper-focused, so certain, so quickly. Many cohorts start quite young. “What does a 20 or 30-something know about prolonged focus in one area of anything, really?” I think this the predominant attitude of faculty at the graduate level, and the springboard from which education is administered beyond the Bachelor’s level. Ironically, I happen to agree with the attitude—I just disagree with how it is manifested. Graduate school IS currently about socialization, because I think it is approached by faculty from the perspective that study and research plays second fiddle to the ego of the eager young cohort.

I also think many approach graduate school to learn for leaning’s sake. This is what leads to the aforementioned defeatist experience and makes attrition rates what they are. This does not have to be. One CAN attend graduate school to learn for learning’s sake (insert infomercial music here).

MALS degrees offer a way out. In my opinion it should be THE WAY for 20 & 30-somethings prior to focusing in any one field of study. One can learn for the sake of learning and bounce from one discipline to another leaving the focused students to weather the hazing of their respective department. At the end, one has an academic MA that serves as a leveling point. Do I continue and focus? Am I satisfied here? If one does continue in a more focused area, nothing will impress (and irk) a graduate professor more than approaching something from interdisciplinary point of view. Professors at the graduate level want fresh air, not regurgitation.

Of course, one of the problems with this strategy is the cost and time for the extra step. Also, the MALS since its inception has become the favorite pariah of academic system. It has no place in a society so insane with the fetish of specialization. Academia the very place where this attitude should be vehemently eschewed, is ironically the one place where it is rife! MALS students are a magnet for the snobbery of focused grad-students and many professors. (Naturally, this is a personal axe I am grinding here…)

Anyway, college applications (for a BA) are now asking high school students what subject in which they may like to major. Individual disciplines are offering multiple MA degree’s in different areas of concentration at the same school! It is simply amazing—Going to college to become narrow-minded. This is the long standing joke about graduate school for which Derrida would have loved to see progress to this point. The tools of deconstruction truly lie within the four walls of the structure!

Anyway that is my soapbox.

For those readers thinking to just ignore your advice, they should check out this blog http://www.selloutyoursoul.com/, it’s about the aftermath of what you describe in this article: the decision to leave academia after spending many years doing the prep work necessary to get in, and the insecurity and difficulty of leaving after you’ve gone down the path.

Think twice. Don’t be a fool like I was.

Thanks for the blog, Tons of interesting stuff here (you have been very busy)

Mr. Rex @ selloutyoursoul.com