tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4276812992911002375.post8705374360958254327..comments2024-03-24T21:12:27.165-07:00Comments on 100 Reasons NOT to Go to Graduate School: 76. There is a culture of fear.100 Reasonshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13655155303350793785noreply@blogger.comBlogger102125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4276812992911002375.post-77609472714139441412017-11-08T17:01:35.095-08:002017-11-08T17:01:35.095-08:00While attending graduate school part-time to get a...While attending graduate school part-time to get a master's degree, I had a professor who wanted to be listed as co-writer on a paper that I wrote to submit to a conference. He had encouraged me to write the paper but had not otherwise contributed. I was pursuing the degree mainly because I am interested in the field, and I was making a good income from my full-time job in private industry. If I had been a full-time graduate student or if I really needed the degree, I would have been tempted to comply out of fear. However, he had no real hold over me, so I had no difficulty refusing.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4276812992911002375.post-2559772425882897402016-06-12T11:57:01.043-07:002016-06-12T11:57:01.043-07:00Probably this proff either comes from a very rich,...Probably this proff either comes from a very rich, powerful academic family. Or this proff went to a no name school and is now a proff at a no name university who exists in a bubble. That's the only way this person can have the believe system that he does. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4276812992911002375.post-53570903264910878262016-06-12T11:53:01.987-07:002016-06-12T11:53:01.987-07:00The people who think that the culture of fear mean...The people who think that the culture of fear means that you are afraid to voice your political conservative opinions don't understand anything about academia. <br /><br />You don't even talk about politics when you have a group of friends who have very differing political views, if you want to have good time. <br /><br />On the other hand in Academia... you don't voice your opinion, because well you are a nobody unless you are a tenured professor aka god. Who the fuck are you to even think you have a right to voice your opinion? Oh you think you're so smart and mighty. Well you certainly need to be put into your place. So prepare to be humiliated and degraded, and then you'll know your place. You will bow down before gods, and pretend like you don't know anything. You will brown nose. And you will know that you are nothing. Therefore any favors granted by gods, are favors granted by gods to a nobody, and you should be grateful for the spending human decencies on you. <br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4276812992911002375.post-85239060214977608002016-04-19T20:12:47.518-07:002016-04-19T20:12:47.518-07:00I'd love to know when you completed your degre...I'd love to know when you completed your degrees and earned your professorship. I also genuinely have no idea how, as a tenured professor, you find NONE of the content of this blog pertinent to the troubles associated with grad school.<br /><br /> Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4276812992911002375.post-86570235620084174312015-07-06T17:19:01.383-07:002015-07-06T17:19:01.383-07:00One thing I discovered upon earning a Bachelor'...One thing I discovered upon earning a Bachelor's in Physics at Cal is that there are few openings in Physics, and certainly none for a mere Bachelor's. I could have chosen something more marketable if I knew this sooner.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4276812992911002375.post-22453724484286939132015-06-02T13:34:21.517-07:002015-06-02T13:34:21.517-07:00I'll answer for him - the job market in indust...I'll answer for him - the job market in industry for chemists is *always* bad. There is some discussion about how the ACS has been misleading people for years and under-reporting unemployment in the field.<br /><br />Part of this has to do with the broad scope of the area of knowledge (chemistry) vs. the narrow scope of various industry sector demands. In a bygone age chemists could hop from one specialization to another - and consequently could develop rich skill sets and resumes, but these days if you haven't spent the last five years doing *exactly* what the position requires, you won't even get an interview. This is a broad HR hiring practices issue that affects many industries. The nation's economy will self-destruct before this idiotic mindset goes away - so be it.<br /><br />Another issue is that some chemistry-related sectors have been laying off. Pharmaceuticals was a popular career choice for many, but big Pharma has been laying off like there's no tomorrow for years (although there has been an uptick in visa program hiring at places like P&G - and this is another set of issues, namely, the aggressive offshore outsourcing of R & D and the aggressive importation of labor). All those people are now looking for work - and although they are probably applying outside their specializations, they do have big-name corporate experience on their CVs.<br /><br />So, provided you have good timing, and somehow manage yourself into a specialty that's hiring when you wrap up your program, you can get a job in chemistry in industry. But you can't take it for granted that the jobs will be there where and when you are, and you can't expect the jobs to last.<br /><br /><br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4276812992911002375.post-53610715492154844922014-05-17T14:09:47.700-07:002014-05-17T14:09:47.700-07:00And yet so many with half-a-brain (or less) do. T...And yet so many with half-a-brain (or less) do. This is why we have the country we have today, and why those who can are leaving or have left already.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4276812992911002375.post-15732005762029800982014-01-01T05:18:37.998-08:002014-01-01T05:18:37.998-08:00hmmm. Can't find anything realistic or pertine...hmmm. Can't find anything realistic or pertinent in this blog or comments, though certainly there's a lot of issues to discuss. Guess I'm not free to speak in this forum, as a tenured professor. But as someone who did an MA and Phd at two different institutions with no expectations of the job I was lucky enough to get, I'm wondering about the attitudes here. It's really about humanities. We don't tell undergraduates we are training them for a job, though the media since the recession have been rabid in their denunciation of the lack of functionality of humanities. I don't know why anyone in grad school thinks they will certainly get a job, though of course there's no reason not to hope. Why not learn life-long skills and spend 5 years or so immersed in what you love, even if there's no job in the future? It's a privilege to be a grad student, usually supported financially to do it to boot. The other big unspoken issue here is meritocracy. Graduate school is not blog-writing; it's not anybody with something to say is equal. The disciplines are disciplined sciences of thought; you have to work. My field is language-based. When I was the only one of ten students in an introductory language course to continue on, I realized it was a competitive field. Not in the sense of an unfair field. But the smart and hard-working survive, and I don't think all of the haters and whiners on this site could look in the mirror and judge themselves high for the combination of both. The job market is too crazy to be called meritocratic, but the studies are. A majority of students are not going to make it. Or be handed a job if they do. Happily so, we don't have a corrupt system in N. America, like in Italian academics or elsewhere in Europe. I would have happily and proudly walked away from academia with no job. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4276812992911002375.post-73117010364466372122012-11-29T14:29:00.874-08:002012-11-29T14:29:00.874-08:00This is interesting. I suspect it's also true ...This is interesting. I suspect it's also true that most at-will employees (not just university workers) would choose to be equally anonymous if they were writing critically in the press or for publication about their workplace and its conditions. It's just that most workers' opinions are not as sought-after as academics. (And that academics have spent a lot of money and time to get where they are--a lot to throw away).<br /><br />Which is not unsurprising or even wrong. And it is a terrible influence on the academy as a whole (as well as the people in it) that it is not a space for free thinking and free speaking. I just have a feeling that that's not actually that special. I'm trying to think of people who have written books or been quoted in articles that are extremely critical of their source of income. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4276812992911002375.post-18092788566653905222012-11-05T18:57:29.849-08:002012-11-05T18:57:29.849-08:00@International student:
May I know which country ...@International student:<br /><br />May I know which country / countries you are a citizen/ citizens of?<br /><br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4276812992911002375.post-3950792524088337812012-08-27T11:45:22.323-07:002012-08-27T11:45:22.323-07:00You can lose your job for doing your job in journa...You can lose your job for doing your job in journalism, politics, and social work as well.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4276812992911002375.post-73337383786595304602012-05-15T03:04:57.860-07:002012-05-15T03:04:57.860-07:00I would like to thank the anon poster who works at...I would like to thank the anon poster who works at an ivy league university, and the others who wrote about secret meetings and secret files. This all sounds so damned much like the files the FBI keeps on dissenters and also smacks of the German Stazi era. Remember that old slogan, "If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem?" Academia is an institution, and as such, cannot be expected to police themselves or to make changes from within. For better or for worse, these institutions reflect the values of the dominant culture (i.e. the powerful and the wealty).Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4276812992911002375.post-12466379129323344142012-04-05T17:47:08.071-07:002012-04-05T17:47:08.071-07:00Just went through a total debacle of how a departm...Just went through a total debacle of how a department handled offensive behavior. As a grad student with several years of professional experience before going back for my MA, I can say that without a doubt, the professor at fault would have been fired, sued, etc. Instead, the student was verbally attacked by classmates and told to toughen up. Now she has to be worried about how this will affect the rest of her career.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4276812992911002375.post-85427288535109820412012-04-05T17:33:04.061-07:002012-04-05T17:33:04.061-07:00Woe to the graduate student that stands up for the...Woe to the graduate student that stands up for themselves. Be prepared to grovel and kiss major anything that warrants kissing to maintain a good standing. Recommendations, nominations, and placements depend upon it. All of the self-confidence you built up during your undergrad will be demolished within your first two semesters.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4276812992911002375.post-57413032235955165062012-03-17T19:38:09.087-07:002012-03-17T19:38:09.087-07:00Dennis, can't you get a job in industry?Dennis, can't you get a job in industry?Socratesinthemarketplacehttp://www.yahoo.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4276812992911002375.post-87240963051510033142012-03-16T22:15:48.594-07:002012-03-16T22:15:48.594-07:00I didn't realize that sweet tea is a conservat...I didn't realize that sweet tea is a conservative thing.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4276812992911002375.post-7482005426186812982012-03-16T16:14:53.122-07:002012-03-16T16:14:53.122-07:00David Rubinstein from UIC said it well in the NYT....David Rubinstein from UIC said it well in the NYT. The old faculty at large universities are getting big fat pensions and they are still shuffling around their departments with all the time in the world to lobby and agitate their polident to continue these benefits. They do this at the expense of turning over these posts to younger faculty (who are beyond lucky to land one) and whose tenure-requirements are way beyond their older counterparts. The new salaries are lower comparatively and the pensions will be non-existent.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4276812992911002375.post-11912083511404393602012-03-02T18:34:26.575-08:002012-03-02T18:34:26.575-08:00It was chemistry. Chemist grads from UIC are not ...It was chemistry. Chemist grads from UIC are not the most employable.Dennisnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4276812992911002375.post-56398111321596264572012-02-24T18:39:22.630-08:002012-02-24T18:39:22.630-08:00What's your field, Dennis?What's your field, Dennis?Socratesinthemarketplacehttp://www.yahoo.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4276812992911002375.post-10074480638746104422012-02-18T14:07:06.328-08:002012-02-18T14:07:06.328-08:00I noticed that very few of the people posting comm...I noticed that very few of the people posting comments mentioned what school attended. <br /><br />I'm a disgusted MS from the University of Illinois at Chicago.Dennisnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4276812992911002375.post-2089623339555547342012-02-17T15:46:27.545-08:002012-02-17T15:46:27.545-08:00A thought-provoking idea. Made me think about my ...A thought-provoking idea. Made me think about my own little corner of the academic world, and left me to wonder if it is in fact a culture of fear, or just a culture of the fearful--which is essentially the title of my post in partial reply at Stillwater Historians.<br />http://stillwaterhistorians.wordpress.com/2012/02/16/culture-of-fear-or-just-the-fearful/<br />ThanksAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4276812992911002375.post-45431688863302191182012-02-01T16:17:40.140-08:002012-02-01T16:17:40.140-08:00Attic, you ought to send him an email:
"Welc...Attic, you ought to send him an email:<br /><br />"Welcome to America!"Socratesinthemarketplacehttp://www.yahoo.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4276812992911002375.post-52389137296617093712012-02-01T08:47:27.316-08:002012-02-01T08:47:27.316-08:00@ Anon Jan 23, 2012 02:46 PM: I love you. You real...@ Anon Jan 23, 2012 02:46 PM: I love you. You really hit the nail on the head there.<br /><br />When I ran into problems with my department (you know, speaking out against the fraud, pointing out the different ways students were treated and the mistakes professors made), they happened to be doing call-backs for a tenure-track position. I was told directly (even though I hadn't left yet and was still teaching an undergrad course), "You are not to be at any of the student meetings with the candidates." You might say that fits well with the whole culture of fear and trying to silence anybody who doesn't see the "Academia is paradise" POV, but when I emailed one candidate and said I was sorry not to be able to meet him because the professors told me not to, and that in a small field of 18 students, 3 of us were leaving at the end of the year; I offered to talk with him about any of the issues the 3 of us leaving had so that he could have a full picture of the workings of our environment.<br /><br />His response?<br /><br />"No thanks. I don't want to know."<br /><br />He ended up being the one they picked. Not surprising, is it? Now I wonder how he feels having packed up and moved his family from a secure job in a wealthy European country to a education system falling apart and dealing with serious budget cuts left and right.TheAtticSquirrelnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4276812992911002375.post-51185177278075558522012-01-31T01:13:35.182-08:002012-01-31T01:13:35.182-08:00Are you shitting me? Sexual harassment in grad sch...Are you shitting me? Sexual harassment in grad school is rampant and goes largely unaddressed. Think about it for a second! Here we are talking about a culture of fear in which students/profs are afraid to make even the most innocuous comments, either to each other or to those higher in the academic hierarchy, and you're suggesting that people are regularly (or, at least, regularly enough to be a problem worth mentioning) making frivolous sexual harassment accusations?<br /><br />You stink of ideological agenda.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4276812992911002375.post-80750259264937434812012-01-29T16:34:13.630-08:002012-01-29T16:34:13.630-08:00@Anon 7:27, you said "just like in all the co...@Anon 7:27, you said "just like in all the comments I've read of people being disappointed with grad school, I am disappointed with "the career." I'm willing to give grad school a chance as a means to a more fulfilling end for me."<br /><br />So you think the grass is greener on this side? And you, like many others in these comments sections that aren't or haven't been grad students going for an academic job, you think the grad students here suffer from a terrible case of myopia and are naive to think that their situation is so unique because they've never been in the "real world." <br /><br />Like Socrates, I wish you well in grad school. But you might want to think about the fact that it seems in this case that you are actually the one who thinks the grass is greener, when everybody who's here is telling you it's not. Perhaps you have the single-mindedness (that is in my view a species of naivete in many) that many successful academics have. <br /><br />But notice this: nobody who's been to grad school on a track to go into an academic job who changed their mind and did something else agrees with you in these comments. They know that it's not the same as any other job. But if you persist in sticking your head in the sand about this, then maybe you're just stubborn enough to go to grad school for 7 years, adjunct for 2-3, get a job where you don't want to live and "write yourself out of it" for 5-6 years...Unless you think you're special enough that this won't happen to you.JMLhttp://labyrinth.georgetown.edu/noreply@blogger.com