The Cruel Professor
Today's musing will consider the following question? Why are professors so cruel? You know what I'm talking about... assigning an unreasonable amount of work, impossible-to-write papers, severity of demeanor, unjust grading methods, intimidating glances in class, love for destroying the esteem and idealism of youth, will-breaking, and a never tiring desire to prove superior over the lowly creatures he/she instructs. Why?

No, it's not because they have to sign a pact with the devil in order to get tenure. The true reason is because they were once graduate students. Think about it. Grad students are the most ill-treated and humiliated beings in the universe. They have no rights, they are required to perform acts of syncophantism, butt-kissing, and general groveling. They are never right, must always prove themselves, and can never breathe easy until they walk across the stage and actually grasp the elusive diploma that they've given so much of their souls to possess. In addition to all of this, they must also subsist on about $3,700 a year salary, which adds up to about $10.14 a day.

What can we do to remedy this evil? Nothing. Think about it, ponder it, peruse the situation. The problem is in the cyclical nature of the entire thing. Graduate students either drop out and become raving, insane homeless people, or they get a job at a university teaching and abusing graduate students. This is their divine right, since they have paid their dues and the up-and-coming graduate students must also pay theirs. No professor wants the ignominy of being the first to allow grad students to escape the torture they had to endure - so the system will continue in perpetuity, defying even the laws of the universe.

So now you know. I must now go back to my reading and studying and endless currying of favor. (spoken while assuming the position of the lowly supplicant) Yours truly, J$ - who will hereafter be known as Jcent  ¶ 1:52 PM