having your cake and eating it...

In 2 more weeks, I would have "survived" my 1st year as a PhD student.. and let me tell you, I've got a couple of insights to share...

First and foremost, the level of dedication shown by some of the PhD students here...  many of those pursuing PhD here are doing it on a part-time basis.. If their day-jobs are teaching or educational related, I can understand their reason for getting a doctorate as having a PhD will definitely help them in their career advancement... but about half of them aren't... and among this half, 50% of them wanted to get into a university to teach, like me..

Seeing that they need to graduate with a degree as soon as possible, you would expect them to sacrifice their personal/family/work time in order to fulfill all the necessary requirements. Yet, from what I've gathered so far, everyone (my seniors and classmates) seems to have one gripe or another about how the classes are scheduled, why the graduation requirement(s) is so strict, why this, why that.. blah blah blah.. Which in my mind, are just petty and unreasonable!! Simply put, it is a selfish case of having your cake and eating it too..

The simple fact is - No one pointed a gun at you to do PhD.  If you want to study, you follow the University rules and policies.. You don't argue with the administrative staffs or talk bad about the department head or (some) professors because you can't have things your way.. You don't try to force the department to change the class timetable just because you need to work or whatever..

Everyone has their difficulties.. Everyone is juggling work, family and study, some more than others.. Since you've signed up for it, you need to put in the time and effort to get your PhD. You can't expect the university/department to bend their rules just because you have your own problems/difficulties!!! It is certainly not the department's problem that you NEED to work.. If you can't make the time to take the required classes, then QUIT either your job or the PhD program!!

Personally, I think that is one of the reasons for the poor quality of PhD graduates here.. Don't be mistaken, there are definitely some really good PhD graduates/students, but I believe those are the minority.. But with more than half of them doing or did their PhD on a part-time basis, it makes you wonder how dedicated can they be or how much time can they really pour into doing their researches.

Most people should be encouraged to get a basic degree.. Masters and/or MBAs are for those who wanted to learn more.. but only those who are willing to put in the time/effort should do PhD, else the value of a PhD will plummet if it hasn't already.. Just a quick note, there's lots of jobless PhD grads in Taiwan right now..

Second, the "territorial behavior" of those academicians is stagnating academic progress here.. If the paper is baloney it is baloney, it doesn't matter who wrote or who is the teacher of the writer.. Crap means crap. Period. Yet, in the feudalistic world of academia over here, and maybe the same everywhere else, where it is more important to have some "big-shot" professor as your mentor than the work you produced.. Honest criticism can't be given when it is due as we need to ensure we do not "embarrass" a student whose mentor is a "famous"/"influential"/"big shot" professor...

Lastly, the lack of awareness among these PhD students that English proficiency is a MUST. I've heard a lot of complains from people around me, seniors and classmates, about how ridiculous it is for the university to expect them to publish their research papers in English. To me, the need for English proficiency is a no-brainer. Yet, many here still do not seem to grasp its importance.

Here, most of the PhD students would write in Chinese and then pay tons of money to get the paper translated to English. And trust me some of them really do need that translation service as the level of their English is really appalling!! Thus there is no wonder that a huge market for academic translations and proofreading is flourishing here.. in less than 10 months since I got here, I have been approached by more than 3 person to translate their papers.. and all wanted "special" (aka cheaper) prices as they are my seniors...

The average translation fee for a paper (8,000 words or less) would cost them more than NT$15,000 with an average rate of NT$2.5 per words. Proofreading rate would be about half of that.. There are 160+ universities here with each university accepting an average of 50 PhD students per academic year. Each of these students have to submit at least 3 - 6 papers just to get 2 to be published as part of their graduation requirements. Do the maths and you can see how big this market is. And these are just for PhD students. Many professors, associate professors and assistant associate professors also make use of these services, so just imagine the amount of money that is to be made.. and I do plan to take a piece of this translation/proofreading pie.. :)

This year I've had a small taste of the "new" world of academia.. It will be another 3 - 4 more years before I can graduate.. Anyway, I need to make sure I get all my "basics" right, especially my statistical analysis knowledge/skills.. so, one thing for sure, I will be taking (more) statistics classes come next semester..