This may be an unanswerable question

Last April I failed my Master's thesis defense. I have stewed about this for awhile now and I really think I want to try again. The problem is it's been almost a year now and I don't know what my advisor will say if I contact him again out of the blue. See I just feel like my passion is to teach at a small university/college someplace where I can focus on my teaching and not have to worry so much about "publish or perish" kind of academia. I even have a place in mind right in my hometown. Several of my old profs are nearing retirement and because of my unique academic background I could possibly replace two people in two separate departments. Is this just a pipe dream? I mean first off several things would have to fall into place for this to work out. But it's not that harebrained of a scheme is it?

I believe that anything is possible if we work toward it. It is not a pipe dream. Only you know your qualifications. After all it gives you something to shoot for and hope for. Keep working at it. I don't know if there is a tenure sort of thing but I say keep hope.

Go for it!

It sounds as if you have identified an area where you can work and be valued - academia may rate research and published papers highly (and so it should), but there is also great merit in being an educator.

Sounds like sufficient motivation to face your advisor and give it another crack. A setback hurts and can take time to overcome, but you have done that. Good luck.

I have never heard of anyone needing to give a defense of a Masters thesis. What feedback did you get about why you failed your defense? PhD defenses are more... For show, these days. I've never heard of anyone being allowed to give their defense (in other words, being signed off on by their supervisors) and then failing their defense.

Do you mean you got instructed to 'revise and resubmit' it? Just trying to understand your situation here... I would think that you would need to contact your supervisors if you wanted to do further work... Though... If they thought you were ready to defend and you failed your defense I really wouldn't have any faith in them at all anymore...

I hear you about your passion being to teach someplace where you can focus on your teaching and not worry about "publish or perish". I don't know about community colleges... But those positions don't really exist in Universities anymore. They were never supposed to exist. It is more that people who got hired in the hope that they would go on to contribute to their field (by publishing) ended up... Not doing that once they were offered tenured jobs. It is a generation thing... Those old people who are about to retire... Their jobs aren't being replaced. Not in their present form. Tenure is next to impossible to get... Until you have *already* done a lifetimes worth of publications.

With respect to Universities... There is a hierarchy... And places are always keen to move up the rankings (in order to attract more research funding, attract smarter students, etc). They tend to hire from 1 tier up (at least). Sometimes... No more than 1 tier (if they are concerned about people wanting to move on quickly from that location)... But generally speaking... If you want to return to your small hometown undergraduate institution... The way to do that is to do well enough to get accepted to do a PhD someplace a bit grander... And hope your home institution will have you back if you completed your PhD out okay... Tenure track... Expectation of a book and several articles before you come up for tenure in 5 years...

Your field might be radically different...

Have you thought about High School teaching? No expectation of publishing, there. Focus is on teaching.

A possible exception to this might be...

If you already do a lot of teaching work for them. If you are getting a fairly constant stream of contracts to teach this and that and the next thing... Then... Well... I actually know of a few people who have had a full time teaching workload with no research expectation with precisely this sort of work... They haven't completed their PhD's...

This is partly because it is much cheaper to hire them (since they don't have PhD's) than to hire someone who is properly qualified. It is also partly because the University doesn't have enough graduate students to share the teaching work out amongst its current graduate students.

I know a number of people who do this kind of work... If you have a 'portable partner'... Another source of income that can be relied apon, then it can work... You don't get health insurance or holiday pay or anything like that with this... Very much living from semester to semester with no job security at all...

Part of the reason I failed is do to nothing but my own stubbornness. I just wanted out from under my thesis so badly that I kept pestering them about a defense instead of really addressing the issues with my thesis. The university is small and in a small town in the middle of nowhere so it's pretty hard to get people to come out here. Most only stay for a few years and then move on. I certainly feel like before I try to rest blush contact with my advisor again I need to have my thesis in tip top shape, that said I think I will try to do just that.

Well... Your field may be different... In my old field we were told that if you don't get a fully funded scholarship (fees plus living stipend) to do a PhD in an institution that is ranked top 50 US-equivalent in your field... Then your field is telling you that your academic prospects in the field are pretty much zero.

People are probably staying a few years and then moving on, in part, because they don't have the money to pay more senior staff... It makes sense for people to... Move up in the world. It makes sense for the university to hire junior superstar graduates (the best graduates they can find) from the highest ranking institutions they can find... The graduates who might help bring up the reputation of the university by getting parts of their thesis (work they have already done) published... While they have your universities academic affiliation. If they go on to a higher ranking university then that is also good for your university insofar as they might (potentially) have distinguished alumni... Who might come back and give seminars on new research... It might be a good thing for current people at the uni to jump on their (successful) research bandwagon as much as possible...

I'm sorry if this is harsh... But it sounds like you aren't interested in research and they have been very clear with you that your work isn't up to the quality that is needed for a Masters thesis to get through your institution. Insofar as it is possible to get teaching work sometimes... You'll always be kicked around the bottom of the foodchain on short term contracts...

But you might tell me your field is hairdressing or something... That I know nothing about... That isn't 'traditionally academic' at all... So... I don't quite know what to say... I guess you could contact your supervisors again... The problem is that you sort of have a reputation for trying to get shoddy work through because you hate the work... And most people find this less than... Inspiring.