Return-Path: sendmail 5.67/UCSD-2.2-sun Fri, 6 Aug 93 06:33:19 -0700 for /usr/lib/sendmail -oc -odq -oi -fsocgrad-relay socgrad-list Date: Fri, 6 Aug 1993 06:27:03 -0700 (PDT) From: J Paschel Sender: J Paschel Subject: Re: He said She said (fwd) To: socgrad@ucsd.edu > * Linda sez... > > * Jon sez... > > "The point is not to write the sociology of the car, the point is to drive. > > In this way you learn more about society than all academia could > > ever tell you." Baudrillard. America > > Ha ha! This is almost EXACTLY identical to what a pal o'mine told me about > my MA research! He said, "I think you could teach those stuffy old farts > more about punk in ten minutes with a can of spray paint then you ever > could with a hundred pages of interview transcriptions...." I replied that > they wouldn't give me an MA for that! As you pointed out, you "could teach those stuffy old farts more about punk in ten minutes with a can of spray paint then you ever could with a 100 pages of interview transcriptions" ...Of course you could! That's because you probably grew up doing (or being associated with) whatever it is that "punk rockers" do. No, they wouldn't give you an MA for that. MA's are usually awarded after you complete some sort of training course or certification program. If MA's were awarded on the basis of "what you knew", anybody could get one and job competition would become fierce. The problem is that you are in graduate school not to "know stuff" or to "learn stuff"...you're here to get training (practical, hands-on experience) in what it is that social scientists do. Hence the need for lots of detailed notes and interviews. I for one don't ever plan on learning anything (other than job related stuff) from my experiences in the academy that I couldn't discover in any other occupation. If it were really true that folks in "science" or the academy were really concerned with learning stuff, we wouldn't have throngs of journals packed with articles that go largely unread. I don't mean to sound "jaded" or "sarcastic" at all. I actually love my work...especially the lifestyle. Still, I fail to see how this particular trade is any more related to "learning stuff" or "the advancement of knowledge than any other occupation. Though an argument could be made that some of occupational characteristics of this work are such as to facilitate learning (i.e. summers off, not physically taxing, lot's of flexible hours), I'd be quick to point out that many other occupations share some of these characteristics.