Maybe the bleakest part of academia isn't even the pay, it's how obvious the waste is. You read some sharp, alive piece by a younger scholar, go looking for more, and the trail is just fellowships, one-year visiting jobs, adjunct scraps, then silence. Not because they stopped thinking, but because the system decided they were disposable unless they could survive years of instability, relocation, and soft humiliation. Universities love to talk about nurturing knowledge while running on churn and prestige games. We are burning out people who could've taught generations, all so admin can keep expanding and tenure lines keep shrinking.