Once upon a time, a professor with a degree from the prestigious London School of Economics offered myself and another librarian extra employment to put together a resource list for his students.
We were thrilled. Then the professor let slip to me that he was also hiring an English professor to edit his workbook. My reaction, as someone who had all but three courses needed for a PhD in English, was to think (a) you didn’t need a PhD to edit, and (b) many English professors had no idea how to edit writing.
Then the economist dropped the real bomb. He told me that he had to pay his English professor buddy twice a much as the other librarian and me.
When I asked why, the economist said, “Because he can get a lot of work editing. But you girls’ opportunity costs for outside work are far less than his.” Continue reading →