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Smart isn't the biggest criteria for success as a professor. The PhD degree is a good filter because it trains and tests research aptitude, work ethic, ability
by TimPC 5y ago
Smart isn't the biggest criteria for success as a professor. The PhD degree is a good filter because it trains and tests research aptitude, work ethic, ability to collaborate, ability to focus on a single problem for a long period of time, and others.
One problem is PhD degrees are too costly to those who don't get academic or industrial success from them. But as long as talented people are willing to try to become a professor I don't see the system changing.
- achillesheels 5y agoWho is to judge the merit of their talent? Shouldn’t their results speak for themselves? And prey tell, what are the results of academia in the age of the digital revolution where there is no obligation to complete a university education with the knowledge of its mathematical scientific foundation? I think many more are drawn to professorship for a sense of status, ie prestige. It shows in their overwhelming mediocrity, eg the failure of economics to progress to a biologically scientific paradigm.