Susan Forsburg's post is right on target, and if every grad student
could say what hers say, the world would be a better place.
The modern problem arises when graduate programs become a source of
cheap labor. When faculty are so overwhelmed by the demand for
extramural support and publications that they have no time to provide
training, much less personal growth, then there is something deeply
wrong.
This is the source of the increasingly common grad student complaint.
The implicit bargain between student and university - the bargain which
says you will be paid a substandard wage but you will also get an
education in science and scientific thinking - is not being kept.
More and more students and post-docs find they work for PIs, not for
teachers or preceptors or mentors. Universities are forced to play this
way for economic reasons. Students will have to continue complaining
loudly if these injustices are to be redressed.
I have written a long essay on this subject in a previous post to this
newsgroup. It is based on 17 years as a faculty member at the Johns
Hopkins School of Medicine. You may find it in DejaNews.
Regards,
Bob
--
Robert D. Phair, Ph.D. rphair at ix.netcom.com
BioInformatics Services http://www.webcom.com/rphair
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