Men in Graduate School
No morning news today, because I don’t feel like it and I don’t see anything interesting.
However, I did hear an interesting thought this weekend. A woman told my wife and I that too much time in graduate school takes a toll on men. The longer guys are in school, she said, the more they become inable to make decisions, obsessive-compulsive, perfectionist, insecure, overly-sensitive, and generally unhappy. Why? The reasons she gave included: graduate students are low on the totem pole and no one cares what they think; of the writing of papers and dissertations there is no end (or clear deadlines); and perhaps most significant, men in graduate school are completely beholden to others for everything. They are not providing for themselves or their families and are wholly dependent on the recognition and sustenance of others.
Heh. There is a lot more that could be said along these lines, but I think there is a lot of truth to this.
“No morning news today, because I don’t feel like it and I don’t see anything interesting.”
If only the Media did that more often, just think how less skewed our perception of the world would be.
overlyconscious
February 27, 2006 at 6:29 pm
Interesting thought. But what about your average American male with a crappy job (to wit: me)? I am low on the totem pole at my job and no one cares what I think. The job is repetative, but different every day with no end in sight. Just the same thing over and over with no clear cut anything. And what is worse I am completely dependant on the owner to pay me, wholely dependant for my sustenance. So I guess this argument would be about most men in the modern era, except those in graduate school have some hope for breaking beyond this.
beitiathustra
February 27, 2006 at 8:21 pm
The only reason for beitiathustra’s comment being true is that knowledge is very much a part (not a the whole part *tips hat to OC’s blog*) of where our perfection lies. I mean we could all be stuck in dead end jobs with cruddy pay and horrible benefits-if that. The difference maker is that we are conscious (community of those who know) wherein our perfection lays and seek it, of course securing an outlet for our thoughts via papers, dissertations, and increasing our economic income possibly are also good reasons to go graduate.
But the lady is right, no one cares what we right, lest they be on the same quest for perfection, because the world by and far is too comfortable for its own good (its own salvation in my eyes sometimes)…
more on this later in me blog…
Cheers
platonicform
March 1, 2006 at 7:01 pm
right=write
platonicform
March 1, 2006 at 7:02 pm