I've been thinking about doing this post for a while now. The idea is, there are these urban legends that float around in academia for which there is no proof but which nevertheless persist. I figure I'm not the only person sitting at my computer trying to finalize syllabi, so this should be a nice way for people to procrastinate, right? I'm going to start the list, and feel free to post any additions in comments.
Academic Urban Legend (AUL) #1 - That person who went to your grad program in recent memory - but of course who finished before you, or even the people who've been around for years and are still in the program, arrived - and who finished the MA and PhD in three years AND got a job immediately upon defending.
12 years ago
11 comments:
This probably isn't exactly what you mean, but it's an academic urban legend in my neck of the woods...
That if you are to be a successful professional scholar, you cannot take action on things you think are morally right. Stories abound of those grad students and junior faculty who have stood up to other faculty or administrators and been kicked out. More stories of women who have filed sexual harassment grievances, only to be shamed into leaving academia.
The thing is, I know some people for whom these legends are true, and some for whom they are not. For those who fought, won, and are now successful academics, the keys were the follow-through and having resource (like a student group, faculty committee or labor union).
Anything goes, Kate, no worries.
And I've totally heard that one you described, Jenn!
How about the one (which may be a version of your #1, Dr. C) where the brilliant over-achieving grad student is a shoo-in for a job at Big Ivy U., but then goes batshit crazy at the interview and ends up driving a cab?
[Ironically, the word verification I'm asked for here is xfimPHD. Spooky.]
Ooh! I thought of another one! A version of Kfluff's
What about the one where the over-achieving grad student either graduates with the PhD or leaves the program to become a writer for a primetime drama/a soap opera/saturday night live? And they make millions of dollars and everything?
I went to grad school with someone who qualifies for Academic Legend #1, but he basically had a job waiting for him at the small private college he had attended.
As much as I envied him for that, I don't think I would have wanted the path he chose.
I hope this one isn't just a product of my grad school--young, not-so-bright-or-hard-working grad student seduces hapless tenured professor and blackmails him into giving her the degree? Comes with two different endings: A) she goes on to use similar tactics to get tenure B) she marries said prof, or better, a different one.
I'm having far too much fun with this.
An undergraduate student figured out that if they sign up for the high level graduate courses, no one ever checks prerequisites and no one ever takes attendance and everyone gets A's. Until they accidentally sign up for one with Professor X, who has his students do actual work.
Love this! Here are some more:
1. Grad student applying for a job has her application sabotaged by a nasty letter from her advisor--with whom she'd only had the best possible working relationship.
2. Grad student/new hire manages to finangle a deal wherein he will be teaching only 1 class per semester, even though the official load at his new school is 2/2 or 3/3.
3. Purely on the strength of his/her personality, a candidate with a degree in one field winds up with a job in another (English to History, let's say).
4. 35 years ago, grad students in English at my institution finished their degrees in 4 years, with no teaching preparation, and emerged from the MLA with 6 job offers. Oh, wait: that one's actually TRUE.
(1) the ABD grad student who received two job offers while actually AT the MLA convention
(2) the grad student who was invited to drinks with two hiring committees at the same time, so met them both at the MLA hotel bar and just kept walking across the room back and forth
(3) the amazing grad student who was the favorite pet of several star profs, got an awesome Tier 1 job, but crashed and burned and didn't get tenure because he was too busy sleeping with his undergraduate students.
Brilliant grad student in math or computer science or something who solves great problem in the discipline and graduates with a 1-page dissertation that is the proof of the problem.
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