The F word
In doctoral programs, the F word is "failure." And too many Ph.D. students think it applies to them.The problem, write higher-ed career counselors Megan Pincus Kajitani and Rebecca Bryant in The Chronicle of Higher Education, is a narrow definition of sucess for Ph.D. candidates and new graduates.
Struggling toward an elusive tenure-track position--and the heavy emphasis placed on the tenure-track as Holy Grail during doctoral study--leads to high incidences of depression, stress-related illness and "other forms of mental distress" in doctoral students.
I don't have an answer to this dilemma. But I recognize the feeling.
Two years out of my doctoral program, I'm starting to feel like no one will take my scholarship seriously if I don't find a tenure-track position soon.
Never mind that I'm in a demanding, rewarding position as director of a pastoral counseling center affiliated with a major research university. Never mind that I both teach graduate students and provide therapy and spiritual direction to the public. Never mind that I have a book and a dozen peer-reviewed publications to my credit.
Colleagues want to know how long I'll stay in an administrative position. Last week, a student said, "Oh, so you're not a faculty member?" A mentor told me that my work might make me happy and have social value, but its primary value is as a "good springboard to a research career."
Will I begin to think of myself as a failure if I remain in this position indefinitely?
.: Posted by Duane Bidwell on Sunday, March 27, 2005
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