Korean Job Discussion Forums

cubanlord · Joined: 08 Jul 2005 Location: In Japan!

Do you have what it takes? Do you think you could devote the time and effort into one? Is it worth it?

http://www.cs.purdue.edu/homes/dec/essay.phd.html

captain planet · Joined: 18 Jul 2006

the 1st 15 years seemed like a complete waste of my time. i don't know what the point of 3 more would be.

Delirium's Brother · Posted: Thu Jul 27, 2006 3:09 am Post subject:

I'm in the middle of a PhD. (well, sort of, I'm a lasped ABD) at a top level university; and I'd have to say after reading the linked page that:

although fairly accurate given my experience, the text was full of hyperbole.
the section entitled "3. Do you have what it takes?" has the required personal capabilities listed in almost reverse order of importance. Meaning, if you think you are ready, read the list from the bottom to the top. That's the real order of importance.

flotsam · Joined: 28 Mar 2006

I'll be starting on the MA/M.ED that will lead into my PhD/Ed.D this September. SOOOOO looking forward to 4-5 years of school. I have alrready joined a special research committee on national/international literacy development through content area instruction(I'm the World History guy) and I have even begun discussions on a fellowship that will have me doing research here or in India in my second or third year--pure wickedosity.

Bottom line--if it's what you really want to do and you are willing to play some of the politics(like setting up committees and fellowships for yourself so you end up on the right track) then for sure you can do it.

Woland · Joined: 10 May 2006 Location: Seoul

tzechuk · Joined: 20 Dec 2004

It never occurs to me that doing a PhD is that big a deal, to be honest.

My husband has one... um.. yeah, he would tell you that it took all his time/effort etc. etc..

I plan on doing one in a few years' time. I already have a MSc, so a PhD is just the next step, really. When I finished my MSc, one of my course tutors actually suggested that I began studying for my PhD right away - I was only 22!!!!! I politely turned her down, telling her I needed work experience first (my major was/is international business).

I will be 30 this year. I think I will be ready in a few more years.

Antmore · Joined: 15 Sep 2004

we'll see>, I'm in the middle of one now.

mole · Joined: 06 Feb 2003 Location: Act III

No. I'm lazy. Not inept, I just don't think I could take it all seriously, and I doubt it would improve my life.

ilovebdt · Joined: 03 Jun 2005 Location: Nr Seoul

Na, I hate writing essays. Laughing

ilovebdt

Dan The Chainsawman · Joined: 05 May 2005

Homer · Guest

I can complete it.

However, I have no interest or desire to complete one. Very Happy

CoolTeach · Joined: 19 Apr 2006 Location: Back in the USSR

If mommy and daddy paid for college, I could. I wish I had enough time/money to complete further study. I guess my quadruple BS in International Business, Production Operations Management, Political Science, and Sociology aren't enough now days eh. It only took me 5 years to complete, thank goodness for college prep classes. Since I graduated from highschool at 16, and I am only 24 now. If I do save up enough money, I will certainly go to a country where I can get my PhD. in only 2 years, or pay a tutor to do it for me.

Nowhere Man · Joined: 08 Feb 2004

If I can speak frankly,

1) Nowadays, I feel as many master's degrees are awarded to people changing jobs as there are people who naturally move up to a master's after completing their BA.

2) As such, "master's" takes on a much more abstract notion. How I would love to be a MASTER of teaching. First of all, I don't have a BA in education, and secondly, in surveying the Master's degree field, most of them aim to make people "masters" of their field with little or no classroom component. In other words, you're not teaching, you're sitting in a circle talking about theories of teaching. Your grade will largely reflect how well you reflect on this.

3) So, as a PhD candidate, you'll be expected to "extend your field". What about BA honors theses and MA dissertations? Are you telling me that these weren't extending your field? Were they just reviewing what's already known? That's not how they're portrayed when you actually undertake them.

4) Extend your field. So, if I'm to be academic about it, every PhD has extended their field? If one is to take this at face value, then any field can be extended infinitely. The truth of the matter is you end up studying something more and more obscure or diminuitive: The discourse analysis of 3 Puerto Rican debutantes as affected by Cinco de Mayo.

5) How about "the influence on pac-man scores by only using up and right movements"?

6) Before someone uses the "you're not/shouldn't be a PhD candidate" on me, I'd point out that Krashen points out a clear disconnect between research and classroom practice.

7) So, I have to extend the field. I'm unna do some breakthrough research on why Mongolians choose the wrong prepositions...

Cool

And all the while, you teach with people who have these advanced qualifications. Are they better classroom teachers?

9) Hmm...compared to someone with a DELTA? No. Oftentimes not.

10) But what? We have people who can talk for hours about minutiae who haven't set foot in a classroom for years at the top of this field drooling whatnot downwards.

11) They're Phds,but they're not MASTERS.

12) This is the field I'm in, but extending the field of physics by examining how a superball bounces doesn't really make you a master.

13) AND WE JUDGE OUR UNI PROFESSORS BY HOW MUCH THEY PUBLISH, not how well they impart their knowledge.

14) YOU HAVE TO BEND OVER BACKWARDS FOR A K-12 TEACHING QUALIFICATION, any yokel with a PhD can teach university.

15) Academia is a seriously strung out dystopia of what it could be.

rothkowitz · Joined: 27 Apr 2006

Depends a lot on whether you can have a supervisor and then later examiners who can be arsed about it.

Where's the pressure on them to chop-chop?

I waited 10 months to get my masters looked at.External examiner just couldn't be stuffed.Didn't matter that the University calendar had stipulated 3 months.

Finally get it back.Do you want to make any changes??A-holes.....just give it to me.My life is on hold.....

Academia...from what I've experienced.Difficult to sustain interest.

taobenli · Joined: 26 Apr 2004

Although I'm about to enter academia (starting my PhD study) I agree that there are problems with the system. Many current professors also know this (after all, they had to go through the same process and jump through similar hoops), although some seem to be oblivious and live in an academic bubble. The program I chose (and the advisor) emphasize teaching as much as research- it's a difficult balancing act but they're doing their best. The moral of the story is: if you're choosing to launch into a PhD choose your program and advisor/s carefully, since you'll have to put up with that decision for a long time.

Nowhere Man- by "extending the field" they don't mean expanding in the "getting bigger" sense, but expanding ideas within the field and adding a new perspective. It's true that actual thesis topics are generally quite narrow, and may even seem similar to someone else's research on the surface- but they are required to approach the subject in a new way. It's also possible that B.A. and M.A. theses can expand the field, but since they are shorter and generally based on less original research it's not as common.

When it comes to a PhD in education, I see little value in that, unless one is studying higher education to become an upper-level administrator or pricipal or something. For teaching, an M.A. is more than sufficient. (Just my impression). If one has to get a PhD in ed. for job purposes, it would of course make sense to pick a short program. To get a job as a professor in the U.S. or Canada, though, such short PhD programs are not as highly regarded as the more comprehensive ones.