======= Date Modified 12 04 2010 12:04:12 =======
Hello,

Sorry, a very vague and meandering rant coming up. When I went to stay with my dad over christmas my stepmother's parents came to visit. My dad picked me up from the station and told me on the way to his house that he had told his father in law that I am doing a PhD. His response was 'Another one not producing then'. A few days ago I read in the paper that scientists expect to find some form of life on other planets within the next five days. Surely this would be an incredible find and would create explosive and valuable debates about science, religion, philosophy, ethics? But no, the first comment at the end of the article was 'Why are they wasting all this money searching for life elsewhere whilst we can't cope with two inches of snow here?'
I study English literature and I often find that people are completely bemused by what I do. It seems that any career which doesn't involve selling things or produce immediately tangible benefits is seen as entirely pointless by the majority of people in this country. Studying history or art or philosophy or sociology or science just because you want to THINK about things and have a deeper understanding of how the world works is apparantly just a waste of time.
I realise I'm coming across as a blustering old fool here but I needed to get this out!

I think that being thought of as useless until you produce something economically tangible is the cross that all PhD students who aren't in the uber-funded subjects have to bear.

It's not all bad, at least he understood. I'm still trying to explain to my grandma, grandad and aunt what a PhD is. I think it's easier if I just say I'm unemployed.

Let me guess? I'll bet that was in the Daily Mail. I think you need to make it clear to such people that absolutely everything we have, from the material that constitutes our underwear to the U-bend on our toilet which allows us to void ourselves effectively, is based upon research. I hope I'm not offending you our your dad's father-in-law (I try not to be a rude person:$) but without people like use, he wouldn't be hear today making such silly comments because, without us non-productive people with our heads apparently in the clouds, he wouldn't have got past 30. Research creates, informs and develops societies, philosophy informs our morals and space is the only possible future to humanity. Such myopic views do not an intelligent argument make.

======= Date Modified 12 Jan 2010 14:13:08 =======
============= Edited by a Moderator =============

Why would you be offending me? I agree with everything you said. As for my dad's father-in-law, it bemused me first of all as to why he thought it was pefectly acceptable to tell everyone he thought my choice of career was stupid, considering he hadn't even met me at this point.

Slizor 'I think it's easier if I just say I'm unemployed.' That made me laugh!

Some of the older members of my family don't really understand what I am doing, but they know its what I want to do so are happy for me, so I just leave it! I just say that I want to be a university lecturer and do my own research, when they ask what the research is for I just say its like being an author for a very specific audience, and they seem fine with that. But then sometimes I get asked why I don't just teach in a school when I want to teach!

My family aren't disparaging about it though, and to be honest I'd be quite upset if they were. We do have some awkward conversations sometimes about where all this studying is actually leading, especially when I tell them how difficult it is to get a permanent job etc, but I think their main concern is that I work too hard and don't get much time to myself!

Keepcalm you don't sound like a blustering fool at all, I'd be so frustrated if my family reacted this way!
I guess I get off lightly being in medical science, people usually accept that without too much bother. But I think wally put it very well, where do people like this man think all our current knowledge comes from?

Thank Goodness you don't have to interact with these people on a regular basis.

Yeah, I have quite a mixed response to what I do. As soon as I mention Alzheimer's everyone tells me what a worthwhile thing it is to be researching, but then when I try to explain more specifically what I'm doing and why, I usually get blank faces. Some people have even said, 'oh, so you're not searching for a cure then', implying that because my work is more relevant to treatment than cure that it is less valuable because I'm not about to cure millions of people! I think the main issue is that most people just don't understand the implications of different types of research, and it doesn't help when the media water it down so it sounds completely pointless and a waste of resources. I admit, I don't really understand the implications of the work some of my friends in a different department are doing, but I don't write it off as useless- I just ask more about it or accept that I'm ignorant! If you want a good laugh, try looking at the comments people leave in reference to newspaper articles on research projects- it often amounts to reasoning along the lines of 'so coffee is good for dementia then? Well obviously it isn't because my mum/auntie/granny/dog had 4 pints of coffee a day and still got it...this research is a waste of good money'. Many people have no concept of statistical relationships and are thus unable to interpret such information appropriately, which often leads to misunderstandings etc. Best just to develop a thick skin I think. I tell people I research Alzheimer's and leave it at that! KB

keep calm - what is your phd on?

I'm studying Eng Lit as well focusing on contemporary American fiction.

Reminds me of the comments made by my husband's family vicar. He'd been asked to conduct a blessing for us (we'd eloped!), and when I said I was doing a PhD he was extremely disparaging. Actually he was thoroughly disagreeable in many ways, and didn't get to conduct a blessing in the end :)

Generally I'm lucky that my family are very understanding. I'm on my second go at a PhD, having fallen seriously ill early in the first full-time one (I'm now part-time). My family understand how big a challenge it is, and how much it means to me. They might occasionally go blank at some of the things I'm doing, but that's ok.

I find that 9 out of 10 times people have no idea what a PhD entails. When I first got my position on my phd and since I've started, I've had to change the way I phrase it. I used to say 'I'm a phd student' but as soon as people hear the word 'student' you're pigeon-holed and written off. Even though I'm only 24 some people have still said 'oh you're still in college'....

So now I say I'm a PhD candidate or a Phd Researcher for my college. It gets such a different reaction....in that people seem to be more inclined to follow up with more questions compared to when I say I'm a student. Anyhow my PhD is a job. I have work to do and I get paid for it!! :-)

Seriously though, very few people know what a PhD means or is....the effort of trying to explain and justify your existence is tedious however, better off not going into detail!

My parents understand what a PhD is and its difficulty. They are here and support me all the way.
BUT nobody else seems to understand!!!! They keep saying "Why don't you get married? You are old enough! Stop studying!" Only my grandfather once asked me what is this thing going to offer me more, since I have a permanent job and it is very difficult to get into academia in my country. Well I explained to him, but to all the rest, I just say that I will have a nice picture on my wall and a nice frame of the degree!!!!:-)
They think that I am crazy...but that's life! I am enjoying it, and that's all it matters!!!

Sorry, keep_calm, I'm trying to write the ethics section for my research at the mo' and it's making me particularly sensitive towards others:$

======= Date Modified 12 Jan 2010 21:44:53 =======
There are a number of people in my life who have always thought I was a bit odd in terms of life choices, and now that I am doing a PhD their suspiscions have been wholeheartedly confirmed; however, this does not stop them loving me or being my friends and family, and they do not make judgmental comments (well someone did once, but they've been put on the back burner). It's very sweet of them, and they encourage me the way you might the progress of a deluded individual who is convinced that devoting their life to making a life sized castle out of match sticks will make them happy - they could, indeed, be right about that assumption.

You have my sympathy, bigoted inlaws are the pits.   

Hi KC

Yes, there's the other dimensions to this of course - the fact that degrees are so expensive has driven students to go for courses which will lead to lucrative careers, at least in Australia. Students simply can't afford to learn for the love of learning anymore. So, literature, humanities have shrivelled here, no jobs there! In my area in industrial relations, fewer and fewer students are studying this too, as it's about power, society, and working lives, as well as specific legislation etc. But instead of understanding these dynamics, students would rather study human resources, go to a big multi-national, get a nice well-paying job and not have to worry about wider implications...

...and that's my rant for the day...