Too Cool for School

What drives people to go to graduate school?  Off the top of my head, I can think of three reasons:

1. to delay having to enter the "real" world,
2. to be trained for a career that requires an advanced degree or to improve one's salary,
3. and/or to learn more about a field that interests the student.

No doubt, these are all fine reasons for attending graduate school.  I would hope that the one thing all of them have in common is number 3.  But why is it that I have only met a couple students who seem to be interested in our field at all?

I don't recall ever noticing this issue when I was an undergrad.  My science TAs often would geek out about their research and the interesting things they were learning in class.  And while I never had any TAs or met any graduate students in the humanities, all of my cohort who were planning on going to graduate school for the humanities couldn't stop talking about their field.  What is it about my grad cohort that is so different?

My wife tells me it's probably just a phase.  STEM students are used to being the "nerds" of college and many of them try to build up a "cool" image to hide behind.  That could explain why very few of the other first-year grad students ever show up for the department colloquia or research presentations.  But you will see plenty of more senior grad students in the audience.  So perhaps those who don't wash out after a year will begin to open up a bit about their interest in my field.

Another theory I have is that many of these students haven't accepted the unwritten rules of graduate school.  In particular, I refer to the level of involvement expected of graduate students.  Several of the first-years still wait to do their homework until the night before it's due, go drinking several nights a week, and likely spend less time on campus now than during undergrad.  I'm sure that if they don't make grad school a significant part of their life, their advisors will force them.  Right now, most of the students don't have any research appointments and are riding on a guaranteed first-year funding.  I know for a fact that if I avoided school and work like many of these other students, my research advisor would have fired me a long time ago. 

It felt good to rant a bit.  I understand that perhaps I am more passionate about my field - or I show that passion more obviously - than my cohort and that there might be nothing wrong with them, but is it so much to ask to be able to geek out with other grad students?

News Flash: Poor People Go to College Too!

I don't know why so many professors have a misconception that everyone in college is middle class or higher, but it needs to change.  I've encountered so many ignorant professors who looked down upon me for needing to work a job while in school.  They say that I don't take my studies seriously because I can't devote all my waking hours studying, as if any students do.  Some have told me that I don't deserve to go to grad school because I'm academically lazy.  The funny thing is that so many students who don't work spend much of their extra time partying, something I had little desire to do.  I've had professors refuse to schedule a meeting with me or help me via email when their office hours are scheduled during my other classes or work.  How is this fair at all?  Should I be punished because I don't have mommy and daddy to pay for my education?

I'm not sure if these professors legitimately believe that there are no poor people in college or if they are somehow jaded from other experiences.  A certain post I made on the Chronicle of Higher Education forum regarding financial aid was met with a response that there are no real lower-class students in college.  The students who claim to be poor are just poor because they waste their money on food and expensive cars, in that person's example.  I was shocked that an educated person would resort to generalizing a whole group of students like that.  Perhaps some professors don't realize that college is a high-risk investment by those of the lower class.  They should realize that many of these people are more dedicated than wealthier students as we have potentially little to gain and everything to lose.

I don't mean to generalize; I've had some sympathetic professors.  But they were the minority for sure.  I found my humanities professors to generally be more understanding than their science equivalents.  I'm sure working students would like to keep their non-academic work a secret to be revealed only when necessary.  I hope that I won't have any of these unpleasant situations in graduate school where I am employed by the university.  All I ask is that professors ask themselves, "What if this student really does need to work to put food on his or her table?"