Topics Profession

Question I am a student working on getting a degree in Philosophy, and my goal is to get my Master's in Philosophy and a PhD as well. There's only one problem I think. I am 40 years old! I have worked at a job I hated for 13 years, and finally decided to persue my dream. My question is, I have I waited to late in life to persue my dream of teaching Philosophy? I love everything I learn and read, and consistantly get A's in all my Philosophy classes, but am I going to be to old to do what I have dreamed of? Thanks for your opinion!

Accepted:
June 5, 2011

Comments

Much depends on the country you're in. You have better prospects in the US, I think, than elsewhere because the US has no mandatory retirement age, holds people responsible for their own retirement savings, and has rules against age discrimination. (In many other countries, when a university hires someone at 45, it gets burdened with the obligation to pay her/him a pension after age 65 or so.) I think that, if you go on the job market at 45 or so with a really good dissertation and perhaps two published articles, you stand a fair chance of landing a job, especially if you also have a track record as a good teacher or teaching assistant. At least your prospects won't be substantially inferior to those of younger, equally qualified candidates.