Curt's Online Journal
Wherever you go...there you are.
March 04, 2007
Nothing against people with doctorates, but it seems you have to either sell part of your soul in the process or at least give up a good chunk of common sense. I've known a few where neither of these is true, but in general it seems to be true.
Case in point, one of my friends (who shall remain nameless) participated in an REU (Research Experience for Undergraduates) program while at Wayne State. From my web site, you can see that I also participated in one, although mine was with a different research group than the one in question. I think most of us found this program worthwhile, and although I didn't personally end up in research, I found it quite beneficial.
That being said, I talked to this friend in question and she pointed me to a web site where one of the supervising professors had some choice comments about the various participants in her particular REU program. The professor mentioned several aspects of my friend's experiences in school which seem to be generally positive and then goes on to say "Not a Clear Success Story." Other interesting comments about other students included, "without the experience he would have never gone to grad school", "I agreed there is no point in him graduating", "Not bad for a guy who had a 2.8 GPA, but that I brought in because I could see he was trying very hard", "academic career has been severely hampered by Krohn's disease", and, certainly not least, "Great success story as she switched from Medical School (much to her mother's chagrin)".
To boot, the professor listed several people's phone numbers. I personally had this professor in question when I was a student and all I will say is that this doesn't really surprise me...feel free to ask me in person what I actually think about him! Fortunately, my friend contacted another professor involved in the program, made her concerns known, and now the page has been removed from the Internet...although being up for how knows how many months/years.
As I mentioned at the start, how much common sense do you give up when you get your doctorate?
Posted by Curt at March 4, 2007 11:02 PM
Come on now. I have never had a professor who doesn't spend 5 minutes screwing around with IT equipment when all they have to do switch modes. They all are highly organized, and I have never had a professor who says a paper has to be 15 pages when it is actually 10 pages in the syllabus.
This professor sounds like he has the god complex that some have. This seems to be more common with MDs, but is funny with PhDs as well. I mean, when someone gets the "something D" after their name, that automatically makes them smarter then anyone who does not have the "D" after their name. It especially gives them intelligence outside of their field too, as this professor demonstrates.
Doctors have achieved something that is prestigious, and I will always hold that in regard. However, that does not qualify them to make any 99% certain judgments outside of their narrow field.
So I guess you give up most of your common sense once you get that D.
-Nick
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