“论文密语者”批评“虚饰”不适合博士学位的学生

澳大利亚专家强调有证据表明,良好的成绩不一定意味着在博士培训中取得成功

八月 5, 2020
Woman helps a man who prepares for an attempt to fly, using wings made from balsa wood
Source: Getty
Woman helps a man who prepares for an attempt to fly, using wings made from balsa wood

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著名学术博客“论文密语者”(thesis whisperer)的执笔警告说,成绩优秀的学生会被学术界“虚饰”来争取博士学位,因为后者不理性地认为有良好成绩的人具备获得博士学位的能力。

这个学术博客的运营者、澳大利亚国立大学(Australian National University)研究发展主任英格・默伯恩(Inger Mewburn)告诉泰晤士高等教育,学生的早期成绩与博士成功前景之间缺乏关联,如果准导师们忽视这些证据的话,会使学生陷入了“有创伤”的生活。

她说,由于新冠疫情严重冲击了学术工作前景,大学应该更加谨慎地招募学生。“您招来的每个准博士生都理应有能力完成学位。” 她说:“面对疾病、事故和生活问题,那个人都应该能够完成。您不应该招录任何做不到这一点的人,因为想获得成功需要克服的困难太多了。”

默伯恩博士不仅为自己的学生提供咨询,还为全球超过10万名博客粉丝提供咨询。这些追随者对她的学术博客进行了超过900万次访问。十年前,担心有太多博士生会在孤立中遭受自我怀疑,她开始了这个博客,当时她没有意识到许多同龄人其实都有同样的感受。

默伯恩博士认为这部分归咎于“不可思议的思维”,因为尽管学生们已被警告过工作前景不佳,但他们认为过去的成功会推动他们通过博士研究和早期的学术职业生涯。但她坚持说,这种不切实际的期望“并非凭空出现”。

“他们的思维在很大程度上受到周围人们的影响。他们相信了不该相信的人。当他们面对冷酷严峻的现实时,就会觉得自己像已经卖出的次品。”

她说,博士招生人员“虚饰”了那些“在课堂结束时去与教授交谈的各类学生。他们被吸引去做各种各样的工作。他们被纳入各种计划;他们很兴奋;他们被告知‘你就是我们中的一员’”。

“这种情况我见过很多次,我现在明白了。在这种疫情大流行期间,令我生气的是,我仍然听到主管对博士候选人说:‘你一直都知道这很艰难;你只需要克服困难就可以了。’这是不对的。此时此刻与我们之前所知道的任何时期都截然不同。但是他们仍然对他们的学生说,‘你很棒;你是最好的’”。

默伯恩博士说,招生人员应该认真考虑确定谁能获得攻读博士学位“罕见和宝贵的特权”。但相反的是,他们现在仅仅凭借平均学习绩点来招录博士生,这并不是保障未来成功的可靠指标。

“你必须在学术上足够聪明,但这有很多重要的事情。然而,我们倾向于认定在某门课程中取得卓越成就的人们在博士学位方面也会做得很好。”

她说,这种假设显然是错误的,她援引美国研究员芭芭拉・洛维茨(Barbara Lovitts)的发现称,在课程学习中表现出色的学生在独立研究中通常表现不佳。默伯恩博士说:“我们实际上忽略了这些证据。”

“(我们应该招录)能够自发工作(和)善于交流的人,他们可以应对失败和不确定性;知道何时违反规则以及何时观察的人。这些是人们在工作场合和一生中发展起来的素质。我们在招生采访时应当把他们当作劳动者,同时也关注他们的学术成就。”

她补充说,疫情大流行要求我们采取一种新的方法,“我们应该抓住改变的时机。”

john.ross@timeshighereducation.com

本文由张万琪为泰晤士高等教育翻译。

后记

Print headline: ‘Thesis whisperer’ pans ‘grooming’ of ill-suited students for doctorates

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Reader's comments (4)

Agree completely. In the Arts and Social Sciences in particular (where projects are generally individual rather than team based), a PhD is a long and often lonely road, with many shady valleys for every bright hilltop, and students need an inner fire and resilience to keep them going during the cold nights. They should not be led by someone else's enthusiasm and ideas.
I think this may be why I'm enjoying PhD research much more now - as a member of academic staff with a career outside of academia behind me - than I did an abortive attempt (in a different discipline) straight after an undergraduate degree. Even though I don't have sufficient time, due to a full-time job, rather than the research being my job like it was the first time around. Now I'm really haveing fun! Moreover, it doesn't matter as much... I have a permanent position and I'm over 60 anyway :)
100% agree with the points raised in the article, and indeed, this has raised an interesting question about what makes a 'true' PhD. To me, resilience, and a passion to explore and learn, are key. I've only been in academia for less than 2 decades, but already I've seen too many PhDs taking the easy-way-out attitude, such as 'Why bother learning this or that (when the existing knowledge can get you a pass)?' or 'Lucky that I don't have to do data collection in my PhD'. PhDs should not be a means to an end, but it should only be the beginning of lifelong learning and exploration.
Very true! A PhD has the "mountain climbing" aspect in that you do it because it is there. To see it reduced to a mere set of "learning outcomes" as has happened to taught courses misses the point of the qualification. All education should be transformational but my PhD in the 80s was in a different league compared to my UG studies. In fact, it is worrying if one of my students keeps saying that everything is fine since that means they probably have not started the struggle with material that is suitable for their PhD.