Seen in the wild: “All a #PhD tells me is you were at least able to cram study and pass tests.”
I can’t even.
Do people really think this? Obviously this guy does, but in general? An honest question, not a rhetorical one.
I’ve spent a significant chunk of my life in the company of people with #doctorates—including two grandparents, so I understood from childhood that getting a PhD was quite different from any other kind of degree. Most people I know haven’t, but everyone who was part of my life through my long and winding #academic career has a pretty good idea what I did to become #Doctor Dvorkin. For anyone who doesn’t know, I’m always happy to give a quick sketch.
Among people who don’t have family or friends who have done it, and have never thought seriously about doing it themselves … is that the perception, that grad school is just a more intense version of elementary school through college? More tests, more cramming, more regurgitation, and then you get some shiny new letters after your name?
If that’s the case, I guess I can’t blame them, exactly. Like I’ve said before, most people have no idea how most of the things I’ve done for a living in my life actually work. The #military, #medicine, #science: all quite mysterious except for what people think they know from movies and TV, which is often worse than complete ignorance. So I guess it’s shouldn’t be a surprise if #academia is on that list.
But I would really like to know how widespread this view is. Maybe I can do something with that.
@DavidDvorkin Well, yeah. But I’m wondering about the precise nature of the ignorance and if there’s anything I can do about it. Or maybe I’m just over-analyzing it as we ivory tower types are wont to do, when all I really need is some good old-fashioned common sense!
@medigoth Too much book larnin’!
@medigoth I’ve known a lot of people who seem to think that a doctorate is basically to a master’s what a master’s is to a bachelor’s: just the next rung up. It seems to be the default position even for professionals who haven’t had a lot of exposure to doctoral programs or anyone in one. It’s really hard to explain to them the extent to which the difference is qualitative.
@pieist I just wonder if there’s any way to fight this. Maybe not, but I’m not quite ready to give up.
@medigoth No one in my family is a Phd, but I am aware that you have to do a lot of research, write a thesis, and have it accepted by a small group of people.
@ahi Thank you!
@medigoth Anyone who thinks that is an idiot, or at least profoundly ignorant.