Received: from duncan.ssc.wisc.edu (duncan.ssc.wisc.edu [144.92.190.57]) by csf.Colorado.EDU (8.8.4/8.8.4/CNS-4.1p-nh) with SMTP id KAA06033 for ; Mon, 8 Dec 1997 10:34:16 -0700 (MST) Received: from guy.ssc.wisc.edu by duncan.ssc.wisc.edu; (5.65v3.2/1.1.8.2/10May96-0433PM) id AA15122; Mon, 8 Dec 1997 11:34:25 -0600 Received: from localhost by guy.ssc.wisc.edu (5.65v4.0/1.1.8.2/17May96-0330PM) id AA25184; Mon, 8 Dec 1997 11:34:24 -0600 Date: Mon, 8 Dec 1997 11:34:24 -0600 (CST) From: "Aaron Z. Pitluck" To: socgrad@csf.colorado.edu Subject: to continue..... (fwd) Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Nadini Assar asked me to forward the below, her comments are at the end. ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Mon, 8 Dec 1997 08:25:01 -0500 (EST) From: Nandini Assar Subject: to continue..... Aaron, I am having trouble posting. I am a lurker and don't ususally post, but this time I want to say this. Please forward my message to the socgrad list. I want to be in this discussion. Thanks. Nandini > >>Thomas Brown wrote: >> >> >> >>>I don't see why completing a >>>sociology phd should take longer than five years anyway, unless you're >>>doing historical research. Most of the folks who take longer around here >>>didn't really have their acts together when their dissertating time >>rolled >>>around. The people who are thinking ahead about their projects usually >>>finish in 4 to 5 years. I don't think we have anyone who's been here >>>more than six, maybe seven years. >> >> > >Aaron Pitluck wrote: >> >>Sure, historical research might stretch it out. Or ethnographic research. >>Or anything involving research in foreign countries, which often requires >>government approval and/or affiliation with foreign institutes. Or any >>research dependent on capricious outside funding sources (e.g. Fulbright). >>Or... >> >> In addition to advocating empathy for the circumstances of >>students who don't graduate in 4 or 5 years, I'm reminding us all that the >>sources of funding has a subtle influence on dissertation topics. Limited >>funding may push students towards quantitative work involving extant local >>or national data. Creating new data, especially longitudinal or >>ethnographic, and anything involving foreign countries will be pushed >>aside. My two cents worth here: Precisely, Tom. You CANNOT SEE why it may need more time for some people, because of your structural location. However, because you, and the other powers-that-be DO NOT SEE that more time is necessary for some people structures the system of higher education for all of us. For instance, when the person who is pursuing the PhD has real world responsibilities. I am a single parent raising two teens. I have a half-time assistantship, and devote myself full-time to my studies and my children. Under these circumstances, I challenge anyone to complete a PhD in 4 or five years, especially doing ethnographic work. So, Tom, if the structure of higher education nudges some groups of people out of the running, we should just chalk it up to life's school of hard knocks, right? My children's father earned his PhD while I raised the children. Now, I am completing my work while raising the children on my own. On paper, we will both have comparable degree, we will both have PhD's. But the conditions under which we earned them are so different that it makes me want to laugh. I have found myself being overwhelmed at times, and standing in the middle of my living room saying: I NEED A WIFE!! Well, I think I have made my point. Cheers, Nandini Assar sociology department nassar@vt.edu sociology department nassar@vt.edu