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There are much tougher things than to be a grad student. Everyone who is working hard at whatever they are doing deserves the proper respect, and so does someon

by tsk 14y ago

There are much tougher things than to be a grad student. Everyone who is working hard at whatever they are doing deserves the proper respect, and so does someone working on a thesis. But, I dislike the tone of this article. It makes it sound like grad students are somehow special and deserve special treatment. This is simply not true. If a person is corteous when asking a question, that should be enough. If the receiver of the question can't be bothered, that is an entirely different matter. If you are a grad student, people who have gone through the same may ask questions that you might be more comfortable with, but you should not expect that from everyone or anyone in particular. As long as you think that you "deserve " to be asked appropriate questions about what you do, you are still nothing but a kid inside. And if this comment stings you, it should be food for thought.

zmmmmm 14y ago
Seems a little harsh. I don't think he ever advocates being rude in response to such questions, merely explains some things for people to understand. As someone who just got accepted into grad school this is actually helpful for me to send around in a light hearted way to people who don't have any idea what it's like so they can understand better.
shdon 14y ago
That's the same thing that I thought as I read the article. In fact, to me the article comes across as having a slightly whiny tone. Sure, there are questions that may not be the most pleasant to hear or answer or may even seem ignorant, but I doubt very much that that is exclusive to grad students. The author seems to have lost sight of the idea that these questions, even if they are not perfect, are often just intended to be a polite way of displaying interest. If somebody asks "When will you finish your thesis?", why take that as an annoying question? It allows you to say whether your research is going as expected, whether you've encountered strange hurdles along the way, in the research, in writing the thesis etc. Or perhaps things are moving swimmingly and you can proudly say you're going to finish much sooner than anticipated. Those questions could be construed as annoying, but I don't think they're worth any special consideration over "when will you find a girlfriend?"
im3w1l 14y ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robustness_principle https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robustness_principle I think this is a very useful principle to ponder. In this situation we should strive to ask appropriate question, but not expect others to succeed in this.

by tsk 14y ago

zmmmmm 14y ago

Seems a little harsh. I don't think he ever advocates being rude in response to such questions, merely explains some things for people to understand. As someone who just got accepted into grad school this is actually helpful for me to send around in a light hearted way to people who don't have any idea what it's like so they can understand better.

shdon 14y ago

That's the same thing that I thought as I read the article. In fact, to me the article comes across as having a slightly whiny tone. Sure, there are questions that may not be the most pleasant to hear or answer or may even seem ignorant, but I doubt very much that that is exclusive to grad students. The author seems to have lost sight of the idea that these questions, even if they are not perfect, are often just intended to be a polite way of displaying interest. If somebody asks "When will you finish your thesis?", why take that as an annoying question? It allows you to say whether your research is going as expected, whether you've encountered strange hurdles along the way, in the research, in writing the thesis etc. Or perhaps things are moving swimmingly and you can proudly say you're going to finish much sooner than anticipated. Those questions could be construed as annoying, but I don't think they're worth any special consideration over "when will you find a girlfriend?"

im3w1l 14y ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robustness_principle https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robustness_principle I think this is a very useful principle to ponder. In this situation we should strive to ask appropriate question, but not expect others to succeed in this.