"If I'm so smart, why aren't I rich?"
It seems to me that academics obsess a lot more on capitalism and the evils of wealth than rich people think about academics.
You assume that "intellectuals" (by which I mean those who make a profession of it, usually at universities) have chosen against the path of economic success. I think the truth is that their skills often just aren't the sort that lead to economic success.
A professor of engineering or biological sciences has options if he leaves academia. A professor of Women's Studies or Humanities and Ethnic Studies explodes like a fish brought up from two miles down. If he's very lucky, he can write a book or something, but most professors doing this end up selling a lot of their books to college students who are required to buy them.
It's got to chap their ass a bit that college dropouts are flying personal jets around.
Current Events » in reply to If you're so smart, why aren't you rich?
Or you could reword it slightly...
The whole thread (30 posts)
- And now, a few words from John McCain
- Yet another anti-intellectual President?
- If you're so smart, why aren't you rich?
- Nothing new here.
- Yet another anti-intellectual President?