To be sure, my clients tell me that advising occurs—endless advising of "the dissertation project." As if that project, and its minutiae of citations and shades of meaning, is the point of graduate school. It is not the point of graduate school. It is simply a document that demonstrates a mastery of a discipline and a topic. The point of graduate school, for the actual graduate students themselves, is preparation for a career. A career like yours, with benefits and a retirement plan.This post brings up a number of issues that just don't seem to be discussed enough, at least in my field. First, although it's important to teach a student to perform good science, it is equally important to teach them the professional skills they will need to succeed in academia. There are too many graduate students who know that they should network at conferences but have no idea how to do that so they just don't. Or who have never been taught how to provide constructive criticism as a reviewer. Or don't know how to go about finding a postdoc position. Or have no idea what should go into their research and teaching statements when they apply for faculty positions. In fact, often students don't even really know what a faculty position entails. They've experienced the lecturing and research, but they often don't know about all the other responsibilities professors have within the department (or the hell of grant writing, or all the department politics that make you crazy). All of these are things that a good supervisor will make a point of teaching their graduate students, particularly if the student's goal is to stay in academia.
[...]Your responsibility to your advisees extends to telling the whole truth about the academic enterprise at this time. Tenure-track lines have been evaporating for years. Aiming for a tenure-track job is, for most students, unrealistic. For those students who wish to try, the effort requires years of methodical training and calculation of career chances, from the point of arrival in the graduate program through the dissertation defense and beyond. Your job is to look up from your students' dissertations, and assist them in mastering those skills and calculations.
How? By teaching your Ph.D.'s how to write a CV; to cultivate prominent scholarly supporters; to pursue grant money with a single-minded purpose; to apply for national awards; to publish, publish more, publish higher, write a stellar application letter, and do the elevator talk.
And when, even after doing all of the above, the tenure-track job doesn't materialize, as it often will not, instead of averting your eyes in shame from their so-called "failures," you step up, professors, and work with your Ph.D.'s to transfer their skills into some sector of the economy that is not contracting as badly as your own.
Second, there needs to be an acknowledgement that not everyone can, or should, get a tenure-track faculty position. It seems to be assumed that that's where all grad students will end up, but it is often unrealistic. If a student has a talent and enjoyment for teaching, they can be encouraged to explore teaching-based faculty positions. There are research-based positions in both private and government institutions that may be perfect for someone who doesn't want to teach but really loves research. Some people may be better suited for industry jobs. Given how tough getting a faculty position is these days, the alternatives need to be discussed more. There are many options, and both students and supervisors should communicate what their goals are, what outcome it is reasonable to expect, and then tailor the student's program to try to meet everyone's needs.
And that's my rant for the day. The full article from The Chronicle of Higher Education can be found here.
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