>In article <E19uv6.D6u at liverpool.ac.uk>, wahchan at liverpool.ac.uk (Mr. W.Y.
>Chan) wrote:
>>> You do not sound very confidence about yourself at least in your
>> career expectation, perhaps you feel a bit fed up after persuing what
>> seems like an illusion for so many years you start to feel "its time to
>> pack it in"? Then again maybe you need support from someone close, like
>> a partner, no I do not wish to know your private life but sometimes having
>> a relationship or a close friend could give you extra incentive to decide
>> your future (like buying a house and willing to work harder for the few
>> good things you enjoy) just work and getting paid but do not know how to
>> spend the cash can be very unsatisfying.....
>>Wah,
>>I don't mean this as a flame, but I was surprised to read this. My
>feeling has always been that possibly the only good thing about the
>societal gender role assigned to females was that we were at least largely
>free of primary pressure to support our families financially and pay for a
>mortgage, car, and other material possessions. This pressure to put out
>financially and be the breadwinner is something that I've heard a few men
>express stress about, and that when I was a very young, outspoken
>feminist, had never considered (that there might be a downside to the male
>gender role, too).
>>This is the first time I've ever heard anyone put this pressure in
>positive terms. I, at least, would not be well-motivated by these
>arguments, but would actually feel more pressured and stressed than I
>already do.
>>Karen
>(Who just got through reading Thoreau's _Walden_ a couple of days ago, and
>so has been thinking about the "quiet desperation" of work.)
>
I have to agree with Karen-I've never seen this pressure in positive terms and neither
have any of my male friends-but it could be argued that I hang out with likeminded
people. On a tangent, sort of, I love my research, and I love being in the lab-I even
like writing papers, proposals, and giving seminars! But-and it's a big BUT-I "had a
life" before grad school-I worked in a regular job with regular hours, and while I
wasn't as intellectually challenged during the day, I read novels, gardened, baked, went
to school plays and chorus concerts, had time to write REAL letters, volenteer in
church and for other charitible events, knew what the season was because I got outdoors
once in a while, and knew what a holiday or a weekend was. i have to admit that I miss
that very much, and i know that finishing grad school is not going to bring that all
back (at one time I thought it would) but that my "lack of life" will only get worse as
I progress. And so i find myself asking quite often-is the fun of science WORTH the
price? Someone in this newsgroup once said you should only pursue a science career if
you can't imagine yourself doing anything else. I can imagine myself doing lots of
things. But isn't that "not doing anything else" buying into the narrowly-focused
heirachy of "BIG SCIENCE" being deplored in the references thread?
Julia Frugoli
Dartmouth College
visiting grad student at
Texas A&M University
Department of Biological Sciences
College Station, TX 77843
409-845-0663
FAX 409-847-8805
"Evil is best defined as militant ignorance."
Dr. M. Scott Peck
