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The goal of a PhD education is to learn how to do research, first and foremost. That is the entire point of a PhD If you want to do anything else just get a ma

• ke88y 3y ago
  > The goal of a PhD education is to learn how to do research, first and foremost. This is vague to the point of meaninglessness. To wit, consider the following questions: 1. What is "Research"? (In PhD school the de facto answer is "whatever things get published in top conferences") 2. What does it mean to "learn how to do Research"? (I argue the most important skill is knowing which questions to ask, but that's not something that PhD students or even Professors every get to actually do -- your funding agency's friendly managers/directors will clearly articulate the set of questions you are permitted to ask during Proposer's Day workshops.) All of that to say: learning how to do "Research" is the goal that students are told they're supposed to have. The actual goal of a PhD program is to generate income from overhead on grants. This has a nice side benefit of occasionally producing valuable licensing revenue streams. That anyone learns anything is a happy coincidence.