This is getting a good deal of play on the internets. What do you think? Helpful or intimidating? I guess those aren't mutually exclusive....
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/09/16/columbia-professor-raises-some-eyebrows-his-frank-approach-would-be-doctoral
6 comments:
In a few short words, I think it's pretty dangerous for anyone to expect that you can "operationalize" these kinds of relationships or interactions between people––not unless the goal is to mechanize the university; which, I guess, is/has been a pretty big thing already for [too] many people...
Sorry for the double post...
Dr. Blattman's advice is both helpful AND intimidating!
I agree with Brian that there could be a danger in taking these suggestions as immutable fact; relationships between two people in any context can take very different forms. Were Dr. Blattman's blog post to be etched into the walls of Voorhies I might find myself a little wary.
And yet -- seems to me that Dr. Blattman's suggestions are practical and sound advice for maintaining a healthy, respectful relationship between adviser and student. As someone with limited experience in student teaching and who has spoken with professors during my undergrad years, I often encountered students who felt entitled to intrude upon my or a professor's personal lives or demanded impossible standards for reviewing work, providing emotional/psychological support, etc.
Not to support the mechanization and bureaucratization of a doomed higher ed system or anything -- but at the end of the day professional relationships develop and are maintained through the minutiae that Dr. Blattman describes: sending emails, scheduling meetings, formatting documents. Of course the creative work of researching and writing is important, but unless that information can be conveyed to others, what's the point?
On a more utilitarian level, as a new grad student and a first-generation college student, I appreciate all the guidance I can get for learning to function in the university setting. Thank you for sharing!
I think that Professor Blattman's approach is well-intentioned and could be very helpful. He wants to promote clarity and transparency in his methodologies for advising students, which seems advantageous. Personally, through my interactions with my undergraduate adviser, I appreciated the more documented (mechanized) approach. (I don't mind active correspondence and text-heavy expectations from an adviser, who has my best interest at heart.) However, to my knowledge, no system currently exists that provides any standardized training for advisers of graduate students. Many professor/advisers had unhelpful experiences with their own advisers and learn, consequently, in a stepwise way how to effectively manage their own students.
On the other hand, I know that students' needs vary by discipline. Moreover, all students have many varied ways of learning, participating, producing work, etc. Standardizing the relationship between an adviser and every single student is potentially problematic.
Like Jenny and Zach, I see Dr. Blattman’s list as a helpful demystification the advising process for students who are in danger of committing a faux pas, for whatever reason (delusions of personal entitlement or sociocultural lack of access to the inner workings of higher education). None of the expectations on his list seem unreasonable.
One sentence in the Inside Higher Ed response did give me pause: "A Columbia Ph.D. student of political science who didn’t want to be named said that there has been some 'grumbling' among candidates about the tone of the post in particular -- not the 'gist,' which seems 'reasonable.'" Frankly, I have little patience for this argument. When someone offers you useful, clearly articulated advice, gleaned from experience, with the obvious intent of helping you achieve your academic and career goals, it is not appropriate to “grumble” about his “tone.” (Especially in this instance, where Blattman’s humor is, if anything, self-deprecating: "Most advisers are flawed people [and] I am no exception"; "These instructions sound anal (and I am!"); "Another weakness: I am quite forgetful," etc.) I would be a little concerned about the social competence, to say nothing of the career readiness, of a student who finds this kind of frank honesty intimidating.
Though I found his tone to be a bit intimidating, I had a predominantly positive response to Dr. Blattman's advice. I agree that it’s dangerous to believe "operationalizing" the graduate school process will come without consequences, but personally I like the idea of laying out some guidelines for exactly how the advisor/advisee relationship can work to benefit both parties. To my mind, the fact that Blattman’s guidelines will likely prevent his students from experiencing greater anxieties down the road nullifies any initial discomfort his authoritative tone may cause. Wouldn't it be best to figure out how to navigate professional relationships before going on the job market? Like Jenny said, what’s the use of spending years researching if ultimately you aren't provided the tools to share what you've learned?
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