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Mulling over some familiar sentiments that were raised today about discouragement of potential phd students as a (priority!) method of balancing the graduate/workforce in academia (thread).
Wondering is anyone has any thoughts/solutions on the issue? @AcademicChatter /1
Wondering is anyone has any thoughts/solutions on the issue? @AcademicChatter /1
First I’d like to add a caveat that I’m a PhD student so I cannot speak for the perspective of the job market or what it’s like to be a supervisor (nor is this at all a comment on mine!) but I think there are major points that shouldn’t need to be said: /2
1: I can understand that the job market is an issue BUT: the optics of someone who has succeeded in achieving your dreams telling you not to bother because you likely won’t make it can never be fully mitigated by the saying how it was different times for them /3
2: I think that if there is a problem with the system then the *focus* shouldn’t be about stopping people from entering but fixing it. I know there is no snap solution, but try. /4
3: I think *encouraging* undergrads to look elsewhere, beyond the staple HASS (or STEM) generalised careers they likely have already decided against, but field specific career paths outside academia... /5
4: ...which I think also applies to postgrads. Shifting the norm of following into academia into “alternative” pathways. And more so than referring to ‘industry’ but actually working diverse employability workshops/consulting into phd programs will go a long way /6
5: part of this obviously stems from the importance of realism, which I agree is important and shouldn’t stop, but I don’t think ‘discouragement’ should be how it’s framed at all. /7
Okay maybe now I can sleep but would love to hear more. Until then, here is the only Disney linguist, Milo Thatch, who I think influenced my life more than I realised he would (educationally and maybe looks now I got new metal frames). /8
