3 ms·
It's also befuddling why most faculty are able to sleep at night knowing they are at the top of a pyramid scheme. Maybe it's a selection thing -- the ones who
by solidsnack9000 9y ago
It's also befuddling why most faculty are able to sleep at night knowing they are at the top of a pyramid scheme.
Maybe it's a selection thing -- the ones who can't sleep at night generally leave before they reach that point, as the realization dawns on them about what's expected of them. The process selects for the people who can maintain it.
- itronitron 9y agoI recall during undergrad that the stated goal of the professors was to 'unteach' us everything we learned in high school, and twenty years later I was thankfully finally able to unlearn everything I learned in undergrad. People that stay in a cult are unlikely to be fully honest with themselves and others about its shortcomings. Graduate school was a non-issue as I went through that as a means to an end and virtually all of the professors weren't wrapped up in academia.
- prewett 9y agoWhat were you studying? How do you know that your professors were wrong (that what they taught should be unlearned)?
- itronitron 9y agoUndergraduate in Art, I think they were right to unteach us what we learned in high school but that they were wrong in only teaching Art as it relates to the 'Art world' and that bias is a result of how colleges/universities hire Art professors.
- ImaCake 9y agoAn anecdote is not a datapoint, but I left my PhD because I saw the pyramid scheme and that I didn't want (or even could) maintain the effort required to climb up the pyramid. Now I'm a research assistant, I still do science but I no longer face the insane pressure of academia.
- neltnerb 9y agoMore generously, the people giving you advice are self-selected from the group of people who succeeded by taking that advice. I expect that the faculty are well-meaning, but perhaps not able to accurately gauge what will work for others.
- ozim 9y agoI my world I have not met people who can accurately gauge what will work for others. Even your peers in study might create pressure that having phd is something cool. I dropped my masters because I had job opportunity, some of my friends assume that I finished masters and that is why I have good job. Then I clarify, I did not finish it and they are somewhat disappointed.