My experience is that just the process of earning a PhD makes one blind-sided with arrogance. Add in the fact that these ppl live in an echo chamber makes it very difficult to get an original thought accepted.
My experience is that just the process of earning a PhD makes one blind-sided with arrogance. Add in the fact that these ppl live in an echo chamber makes it very difficult to get an original thought accepted.
When I was in college, one thing I realized was that most people getting a PhD were going down a narrow rabbit hole of specialization to focus on a particular very narrow aspect of a specialized subject, and they ended up knowing more than others about their chosen subject but not necessarily a single thing outside that subject. In no way does it mean the person knows anything at all about a broad range of subjects as so many people seem to automatically think.
I always figured the main value of college was to learn HOW to learn, to be a lifelong learner, to become a seeker of information. This was true for me, but judging from the last couple of years, it sure doesn't seem to be true of all highly educated people. Arrogant and narrow minded know-it-all defines rather a lot of them. And they often forgot to learn critical thinking. Sad.
Learning logic and critical thinking skills use to be most important to education at all levels. Today you can't find this anywhere except in a few rigorous private schools and homeschooling. Kids today, especially at university, are taught to simple parrot the approved viewpoint. They are basically taught not to think. And parents pay to send their kids to this.
To earn a PhD, one must convince those already in the field that they have something unique to contribute. But if it is so unique that it threatens the presuppositions of those in the field, they will be turned down. So they have to stick to the established ideas. Then, to convince themselves that their PhD is well-earned, they have to convince themselves that they believe those ideas.
My experience is that just the process of earning a PhD makes one blind-sided with arrogance. Add in the fact that these ppl live in an echo chamber makes it very difficult to get an original thought accepted.
When I was in college, one thing I realized was that most people getting a PhD were going down a narrow rabbit hole of specialization to focus on a particular very narrow aspect of a specialized subject, and they ended up knowing more than others about their chosen subject but not necessarily a single thing outside that subject. In no way does it mean the person knows anything at all about a broad range of subjects as so many people seem to automatically think.
I always figured the main value of college was to learn HOW to learn, to be a lifelong learner, to become a seeker of information. This was true for me, but judging from the last couple of years, it sure doesn't seem to be true of all highly educated people. Arrogant and narrow minded know-it-all defines rather a lot of them. And they often forgot to learn critical thinking. Sad.
Learning logic and critical thinking skills use to be most important to education at all levels. Today you can't find this anywhere except in a few rigorous private schools and homeschooling. Kids today, especially at university, are taught to simple parrot the approved viewpoint. They are basically taught not to think. And parents pay to send their kids to this.
Spot-on observation ... when I was an undergrad, we defined the various degrees as: BS (bullshyt); MS (more of same); PhD (piled higher and deeper).
To earn a PhD, one must convince those already in the field that they have something unique to contribute. But if it is so unique that it threatens the presuppositions of those in the field, they will be turned down. So they have to stick to the established ideas. Then, to convince themselves that their PhD is well-earned, they have to convince themselves that they believe those ideas.
Exactly. Very insightful. Check out the book, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions by Kuhn. All about scientific paradigm shift.