Category — academic life

Completely random shit: ” 1. Saw my therapist today: she made a strong case for me just quitting this job at the end of the year and moving home, replacement job or no. Best line: “you won the prize and got the job and now you’re taking anti-depressants. Obviously something’s wrong, right?”

(Via Bitch. Ph.D..)

actually, lots of academics have depression after they finish their dissertation and/or start their new position. i posit it is because people think they’ve managed to make progress to the top wrung of the ladder only to realize, there is no top wrung at all, just more wrungs.

i’ve heard of everything from the ‘life change’, ‘giving up academia’, and my university even had a suicide due to depression related to post-dissertation. it’s a harsh world. there may be identifiable issues here that need some looking into, or even a recognizable diagnosis like post-ph.d. depression.

Web Reshapes the Pressures of High School. High school athletics used to be visible only by bonfire. Now, it is a high-tech phenomenon that has filled yet another void in a winner-take-all society. By Selena Roberts. [New York Times: Education]

Of course, it would be better if the whole damn educational-sport/military-religion complex was thrown out the window, but as we all know it won't be, it just grows every time something happens that garnes attention, an event of any sort related, seems to strengthen people's overall faith that football or fieldhockey will guarentee their students success far more than reading a book or talking to friends. In short, the realization that there is an us vs them in all of the above complex's really removes the thinking capacity of our nation, turning us into a dronelike organs that can be played by people mastering the us/them rhetoric.