Episode #25: The Grad School Mess with Leonard Cassuto

Peter Wood

Two weeks ago, Amity Shlaes and I discussed (among other topics) whether graduate school is a good investment. Today, I sit down with Leonard Cassuto to trace how graduate school became such a tangled web, and whether it can be straightened out.

Len is the author of The Graduate School Mess: What Caused It and How We Can Fix It, published in 2015 by Harvard University Press. He also writes a column for the Chronicle of Higher Education called “The Graduate Advisor.” Len is a professor of English at Fordham University and the author of numerous books including Hard-Boiled Sentimentality: The Secret History of American Crime Stories.

Len and I talk shop about graduate school statistics—the average time it takes to earn a Ph.D., whether the standards for dissertations are too high, and the numbers of newly minted Ph.D.s who can’t find academic jobs.

We also spar over the purpose of higher education and disagree about whether colleges are doing a good job of transmitting culture. (Len is much more optimistic than I am.)

At the end, I ask Len to name the best crime stories featuring graduate students. He shares a few pieces of fiction—and one crime story that really happened.

  • Share

Most Commented

October 29, 2024

1.

The Looming Irrelevance of Middle East Study Centers

Today’s Middle Eastern Studies Centers are facing a crisis due to the winds of change in the Middle East and their own ideological echo chamber....

November 19, 2024

2.

Lee Zeldin Should Reform EPA Science Policy

NAS welcomes the nomination of Congressmen Lee Zeldin to lead the Environmental Protection Agency....

November 20, 2024

3.

NAS Welcomes Administrator McMahon's Nomination to Serve as Education Secretary

With McMahon, the new administration has a chance to drastically slim down and depoliticize the Education Department....

Most Read

May 15, 2015

1.

Where Did We Get the Idea That Only White People Can Be Racist?

A look at the double standard that has arisen regarding racism, illustrated recently by the reaction to a black professor's biased comments on Twitter....

October 12, 2010

2.

Ask a Scholar: What is the True Definition of Latino?

What does it mean to be Latino? Are only Latin American people Latino, or does the term apply to anyone whose language derived from Latin?...

May 26, 2010

3.

10 Reasons Not to Go to College

A sampling of arguments for the idea that college may not be for everyone....