A glut of PhDs who can’t find academic jobs
The PhD system is a Ponzi scheme. First and foremost, a PhD program trains one to become a professor. During a professor career, one is expected to graduate 5, 10, 20 PhD students. It is mathematically impossible for the majority of these students to find a professor job. The explosion of higher education, internally and globally, masks the problem to some extent, just like a good old fashioned Ponzi scheme appears solvable for a period of time.<p>Edit: It is pretty well known that there is exactly "One True Path" for a research career. See [0] or [1]<p>[0] <a href="https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/doing-good-science/careers-not-just-jobs-for-phds-outside-the-academy/" rel="nofollow">https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/doing-good-science/care...</a><p>[1] <a href="http://ethicsandscience.scientopia.org/2008/11/20/excuses-for-discounting-people/" rel="nofollow">http://ethicsandscience.scientopia.org/2008/11/20/excuses-fo...</a>