Who Wants to be a Teacher?

I ran across this, which is both funny and worrisome. Its about the intense competition in hiring for humanities departments. The author tells the story off one nervous philosophy applicant who tries to explain logic.

All men are mortal.

Socrates is mortal.

Therefore, Socrates is a man.

I raised my hand. "Birds are mortal too, aren't they?" I asked, hoping he would correct his error.

"Yes," our teacher agreed.

"So Socrates could be a bird?"

He smiled benignly. "No. Socrates doesn't have feathers."