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I'm so sick of economists/journalists/outsiders implying that the reason to study or, more general, to learn is income. I do it because it's giving me the chanc

by kaeluka 13y ago

I'm so sick of economists/journalists/outsiders implying that the reason to study or, more general, to learn is income. I do it because it's giving me the chance to pick problems I find interesting, try to solve them as best as possible and learn a lot about myself along the way. Also, where I'm doing my PhD, a starting salary as a PhD student is comparable (slightly lower) with entry level programmer salaries. edit: economists -> economists/journalists/outsiders

VLM 13y ago
"I'm so sick of economists/journalists/outsiders implying the reason to" They're not implying reasons, they're reporting it. Its all about how much your culture values people with PHD / in the pipeline to get one. You may not like what your culture is saying about you, but no point in blaming the messenger. Rotate into a (hopefully) nonpersonal analogy. Say a statistician reports that your average ex-con makes 25% less than someone who hasn't been punished yet. The proper response isn't against the statistician, or that the point of prison isn't to make money, or that ex-cons used to make more money in the good old days, the point is to observe that our culture doesn't particularly value ex-cons, much less than most assume, and much worse than it used to be. Like being a black sheep? Nothin wrong with being an individual. But don't give someone a hassle for reporting the emperor has no clothes. They're reporting outcomes, not processes. Reporting actual measured price not self perceived value. IF they were morally or ethically attacking because academia leads to poverty etc etc ... you'd know. The tone of the article wouldn't be "hey guess what"
- kaeluka 13y ago
  this article is very much an opinion piece. Subtitle: "Why doing a PhD is often a waste of time". Weasel words all over the place, invented problems (at least not backed with anything): |Meanwhile, business leaders complain about shortages of high-level skills, suggesting PhDs are not teaching the right things.". I'm not reading further now as I'm sure you get what I'm trying to say here.

by kaeluka 13y ago

VLM 13y ago

"I'm so sick of economists/journalists/outsiders implying the reason to" They're not implying reasons, they're reporting it. Its all about how much your culture values people with PHD / in the pipeline to get one. You may not like what your culture is saying about you, but no point in blaming the messenger. Rotate into a (hopefully) nonpersonal analogy. Say a statistician reports that your average ex-con makes 25% less than someone who hasn't been punished yet. The proper response isn't against the statistician, or that the point of prison isn't to make money, or that ex-cons used to make more money in the good old days, the point is to observe that our culture doesn't particularly value ex-cons, much less than most assume, and much worse than it used to be. Like being a black sheep? Nothin wrong with being an individual. But don't give someone a hassle for reporting the emperor has no clothes. They're reporting outcomes, not processes. Reporting actual measured price not self perceived value. IF they were morally or ethically attacking because academia leads to poverty etc etc ... you'd know. The tone of the article wouldn't be "hey guess what"

kaeluka 13y ago
this article is very much an opinion piece. Subtitle: "Why doing a PhD is often a waste of time". Weasel words all over the place, invented problems (at least not backed with anything): |Meanwhile, business leaders complain about shortages of high-level skills, suggesting PhDs are not teaching the right things.". I'm not reading further now as I'm sure you get what I'm trying to say here.