Not on purpose, says the "Marketplace of Ideas" author. But the system is starting to hurt them nonetheless.br br Question: Are humanities br degrees high-risk? br br Louis Menand:  Yeah.  Well, I think the time to degree is right now the big br obstacle to entry into the professions.  br Now, the median time to degree, to PhD in the humanities is nine br years, br and that's time as a registered student.  br The time between Bachelor's degree and a PhD, the median time is br over 11 br years.  So then you're still only br on a tenure ladder, you're not tenured.  br So it generally takes 6 to 8 years after that to get tenure.  So that's a very long period of what's br essentially apprenticeship, of insecurity.  br I don't think that's very healthy for any business, certainly not br for a br business where you want people to be original and creative and take br risks.  So I think that's a big problem, and br the humanities seems to be doing worse than the other disciplines, br though the br other disciplines also have increased time to degrees. br br Now, part of the reason for that is that it's br difficult to br get a job and people stay in school longer because they're employed as br teaching br assistants or instructors by their schools, by their schools where br they're br graduate students, and that does become exploitative eventually because br they're br very cheap labor and there's a way in which in it's not in the br institution's br interest to give them a degree if they can continue to employ them, I br don't br think anybody thinks that way, but effectively that's the way the system br is br starting to work.  That's a bad br morale problem and it's something that gets into the mentality of the br ABD's, who br do a lot of this teaching, and it's not good for, again, not good for br collegiality, and not good for intellectual culture. br br So I think everybody recognizes at this point that br we've br gotten ourselves into a really weird situation where the supply curve br and the br demand curve are just not, you know, where they should be and it would br be very br good for the profession generally, and the humanities in particular, br because we br have a lot of other things that we're struggling with, if we could br get the br professional training part of it a little more rational and efficient.br br Question: Are humanities br degrees high-risk? br br Louis Menand:  Yeah.  Well, I think the time to degree is right now the big br obstacle to entry into the professions.  br Now, the median time to degree, to PhD in the humanities is nine br years, br and that's time as a registered student.  br The time between Bachelor's degree and a PhD, the median time is br over 11 br years.  So then you're still only br on a tenure ladder, you're not tenured.  br So it generally takes 6 to 8 years after that to get tenure.  So that's a very long period of what's br essentially apprenticeship, of insecurity.  br I don't think that's very healthy for any business, certainly not br for a br business where you want people to be original and creative and take br risks.  So I think that's a big problem, and br the humanities seems to be doing worse than the other disciplines, br though the br other disciplines also have increased time to degrees. br br Now, part of the reason for that is that it's br difficult to br get a job and people stay in school longer because they're employed as br teaching br assistants or instructors by their schools, by their schools where br they're br graduate students, and that does become exploitative eventually because br they're br very cheap labor and there's a way in which in it's not in the br institution's br interest to give them a degree if they can continue to employ them, I br don't br think anybody thinks that way, but effectively that's the way the system br is br starting to work.  That's a bad br morale problem and it's something that gets into the mentality of the br ABD's, who br do a lot of this teaching, and it's not good for, again, not good for br collegiality, and not good for intellectual culture. br br So I think everybody recognizes at this point that br we've br gotten ourselves into a really weird situation where the supply curve br and the br demand curve are just not, you know, where they should be and it would br be very br good for the profession generally, and the humanities in particular, br because we br have a lot of other things that we're struggling with, if we could br get the br professional training part of it a little more rational and efficient.