>>> <[log in to unmask]> 12/7/2009 04:32 PM >>> 

Dear Colleagues,

There is another point of view that needs to be considered along with
what
Don, David, Terrence and Ken state – the point of view regarding
what
changes in the individual who now has earned a PhD as an experience of
the
journey.

Some students  & supervisors  are under the impression that PhD is 
like
the other degrees he / she has   earned in the past (Graduate, Masters)
 
Meaning  - since I have joined a PhD program, I will do what you as
supervisor  asks me to do and then I will submit a  copy of  my work
as
soon you  permit me or as soon as your patience  runs out  -  after
which
I should and must get a PhD because I have fulfilled all the
requirements 
as stated in the list!  (number of words , thesis format , 3-4 years of

ogling  knowledge  - a ‘g’& ‘o’ needs to be necessarily added
to ogling
for the present day researcher !

Many  who are arguing  for  setting their own rules for a PhD
especially
in the creative fields  have themselves not undergone the rigor of
scholarship and self discovery  – be it academic or be it practice
in-terms of  what I call  self cognitive rewiring ‘experience’
during and
after a PhD.

An important component of  being conferred a PhD  is the consequent 
rewiring that happens  in the scholar’s own mind  - the  sudden
awareness
that there is so much out there to  know and how little is actually
known
to the self  - the humbling experience – the awareness of the
limitations
of  the entity called  self-knowledge  - which itself is the beginning 
of
end of ignorance and start of wisdom.

Younger generation wanting to pursue PhD seem to be ignoring values
and
experience attached to academic scholarship.  They seem to demand
their
PhDs rather than earn them .  Supervisors turn it into a battle
because
when one of their student’ PhD work is  confronted, it is as though
they
themselves are being questioned about their own  competencies .   In
such
a situation the importance of student’s need for intellectual 
fulfillment
(rewiring of the brain)  takes a second place. What ever be the list
shown
to the prospective student  as requirements of a PhD -   if we in
academics  fail to  make the student experience the joys of  research
cognitively  (intuitive jump from mere knowledge to awareness of  some
thing called wisdom) we may land up with half baked PhDs that insist
on
‘demonstrating’ / ‘showing’  knowledge   instead of becoming
aware of  its
limitations. Many problems  that arise  during a PhD in  the creative
filed  are probably the result of excessive emphasis  during the  
Design
UG & PG  learning  on ‘showing’ off , ‘exhibiting’, 
highlighting sensual
affect of a design'  etc. The student presumes that the same thing
happens
at the PhD level too – after all it is only a higher level
‘degree’.

One has to but agree with Don, David, Terrence, Ken and others 
position
as the struggle and the journey  continues in academics.

Pradeep Yammiyavar  FDRS
Professor
Department of Design
Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati - India.