Serfdom in the name of...

Qualifications Gross Starting Salary
Pass Degree $2,550
Pass with Merit $2,850
Honours $3,050 to $3,200

Above is taken from MOE website, a salary you may expect for being a teacher (primary - JC). Quite good offer, isn't it?

Let's compare that to a 'job' with requirement of:
1. minimum second upper class honour
2. expected to work 8-12 hours a day, some including weekends. no overtime compensation, in fact there is no such thing as overtime.
3. Your work may or may not gives result, nobody even sure if the result is exist. Competitors may get the result first, and make your work useless. Very high uncertainty and stress.

For the 'job' you get less than the pass degree holder being a teacher.

Dear friend, the 'job' is being a PhD student.

Some says: PhD students are not bad people, they just made a terrible life choice. :)

Too Bad

What would you do if your advisor suddenly submit a journal paper, with broken English, not comprehensive and absurd elaboration, using your name as first author... without your permission!!!