The disposable academic: Why doing a PhD is often a waste of time

Re:The disposable academic: Why doing a PhD is often a waste... by RK on Saturday December 18, 2010 @07:26PM (#2020691)

Did your supervisor think your work was good enough to attach his name to? I think that counts in the cheap labor argument, even if you aren't just a worker on the assembly line.

I think good advisors (should) enjoy supervising for the sake of supervising, but that doesn't mean it doesn't also boost their CV's.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:The disposable academic: Why doing a PhD is often a waste... by cperciva on Saturday December 18, 2010 @07:39PM (#2020707)

Did your supervisor think your work was good enough to attach his name to?

We did co-author a paper later, but it wasn't about anything in my thesis. I certainly didn't hear any indication from him that he disapproved of my thesis, though -- he was just happy to let me work independently, and it would have been entirely improper for his name to appear on work he hadn't contributed to.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:The disposable academic: Why doing a PhD is often a waste... by RK on Saturday December 18, 2010 @09:02PM (#2020847)

it would have been entirely improper for his name to appear on work he hadn't contributed to.

I do agree with that, but I think it's far from rare in academia.

[ Parent | on HN ]