Alison Simmons, assistant professor in philosophy, says undergraduates who are thinking of pursuing academic careers in the humanities should be prepared to face the incredulous stares of their family members.

"You have to face all those relatives who can't figure out what on earth you are doing with your life," she says.

The reason an aspiring professor in the humanities may have difficulty convincing her parents that she doesn't want to be a doctor or a lawyer is that the job market in fields such as philosophy, English and Classics is tight and these disciplines are often viewed as aloof from the rest of society.

Jesse E. Matz, assistant professor of English, says students who want to devote their lives to academia will have to overcome formidable hurdles.

"An academic career demands an enormous amount of work for comparatively little compensation," he says.

Stephen J. Greenblatt, professor of English, says it is an unfortunate fact that earning a Ph.D. in English does not guarantee a position at the University level.

"If someone is good at doing this peculiar job of being a literary scholar, [not to have that talent used] is an unbelievable waste of a lot of time and money and passionate energy and longing and dreams," he says.

Poverty a Possibility

Bryan R. Reynolds, a first-year lecturer in history and literature, says people who want to pursue careers in the humanities should be forewarned that they may not be wealthy.

"Destitution is a possibility," he says. "You really have to love people, teaching, and learning."

Reynolds says he did not take financial security into account when choosing a career.

"That's not very important to me," he says."You must be able to forget about everything elseand follow your passion."

According to a report published by the ModernLanguage Association (MLA), Ph.D. recipients inEnglish and foreign languages between 1990 and1995 found full-time tenure track positions in theyear the degree was awarded.

Those who are not fortunate enough to land atenure-track position, Simmons writes in ane-mail, "often find themselves having to pick upadjunct teaching here and there, which often meansearning, say, $12,000 for teaching four courseswith no benefits and no job security."

Matz says being tenured at a place like Harvardis a very remote possibility.

"Tenure in the English department is--for goodand bad reasons--effectively, if not technically,impossible," he says.

But he adds that he would have taughtliterature even if he had known that he "had toteach high school."

Nicholas J. Dames, a Ph.D. candidate inVictorian literature, says there is no guaranteeeven for people who are excellent at what they do.

"The market is so hard that it has little to dowith how good you perceive yourself to be or howgood you are in some abstract sense of the word,"he says. "A lot of it has to do with how fortunateyou are."

He adds that there are currently only 12-15jobs being offered for 200 applicants this year inhis field.

Yet for all of their angst about the jobmarket, Reynolds, who is in his first year out ofgraduate school, and Dames, who will receive hisPh.D. this year, have both recently been hired asassistant professors by the University ofCalifornia, Irvine and Columbia University,respectively.

Not Answerable to Society?

Many professors and graduate students say thatdespite the job market, which the MLA report calls"dismal," humanities scholars are needed insociety.

"Our society needs a cultural preserve notentirely determined by market forces," Matz says."The Academy serves that purpose, to a greatdegree. This does not mean it is not answerable tosociety, just that it has the luxury to respondmore slowly and more thoughtfully to culturaldevelopments."

Mary K. Ebbott, a Ph.D. candidate in Classics,says asking whether a career is materiallyprofitable may be misguided.

"People wonder why there seems to be a lack of`values' in our society," she writes in an e-mail,"but they do not realize that society treats asworthless the very way that values are transmittedand instilled--through the humanities."

Reynolds also says instructors in thehumanities should be the conveyors of values."Teachers interact with students every day," hesays. "[Teaching] is a political enterpriseinsofar as formal education contributes to thesocialization and indoctrination of people; it isthe responsibility of the teacher to make studentsaware of the means of ideological inculcation towhich they are subjected, and to provide them withthe critical tools necessary to analyze andpossibly dismantle these means as well as theideology that drives them."

But if political ideologies are inculcatedthrough formal education, what should be made ofthe fact that many people are being dissuaded bycareers in the humanities, or not finding teachingjobs in higher education once they graduate?

Following Passion

Ebbott says people should enter academiccareers in the humanities if they want "a careerthat affords the opportunity of serious thoughtand the contemplation of something other than thebottom line."

And while it is very difficult to get securepositions at institutions like Harvard, KimberlyG. DelGizzo, assistant director at the Office ofCareer Services, says there may be more academicopportunities in "medium sized institutions, smallliberal arts colleges or community colleges."

DelGizzo adds that students who want to go intoacademia should begin the professional developmentprocess early on.

"They might gain a variety of experiences andaccumulate skills such as writing, research,teaching and publishing," she says. "This willassist them in preparing for the academic jobmarket."

Although most students who received Ph.D.s inthe humanities at Harvard in the past went intoacademia, some entered industries such aspublishing, freelance writing, performing arts,foreign service and ministry. Law, entertainment,freelance writing and consulting are otherpossibilities.

The most important consideration, says Brian W.Breed, a Ph.D. candidate in Classics, must bepassion for the field.

"If you ever see a major league baseball playerinterviewed on TV saying that he plays justbecause he loves the game, that is kind of the wayI feel [about Classics]," he says