Grad school

[robinturner]

I have asked, in some of academic communities I belong to, what this "grad school" thing is all about. To date, I have not received a reply. The article, Wanted: Really Smart Suckers goes some way to providing an answer. American universities are underfunded, so they make postgrads pay for courses they probably don't need, then use them as underpaid labour, which they can get away with because of the debts students incur by taking these courses (and when I say "underpaid", I'm talking something comparable to McDonalds rates here - I earn more than the typical American TA/adjunct, and I live in Turkey, where you can get a bottle of hard liquor for $12 and a good meal for half that).

However, I'm still not sure what grad kids do in grad school. Given that they call it a school, does this mean they go to class and sit in rows listening to the teacher? Please tell me this isn't true. I mean we're talking about PhD students, for crying out loud!

All I can say is that if you're a bright student thinking of doing postgraduate work, go east young (wo)man. That doesn't mean Boston, that means as far east as a plane will take you.

Comments

[chr0me-kitten.livejournal.com]

The other thing I forgot to mention is that not everyone goes into debt paying for these classes. Often, tuition is part of the pay for a TA.

[trochee.livejournal.com]

I'll echo all what chr0me_kitten said, with respect to my grad program:

* Tuition is paid for by my RA-ship, which also pays me a salary (which is just barely a living wage).
* My classes are very small (the largest yet had 20 people) and I know all my professors on a first-name basis.
* We are unionized as of this quarter -- we're currently negotiating the contract for the next period (as yet undecided).

I'd be happy to answer more-specific questions if you want.