Rediff does have a knack of putting out most inanely conceived and the worst written articles. Thats the problem when you are supported only by ad revenues and lack any respect for dignity and morality.
I appreciate the concern raised by the writer. But i think he should question the system and not the product. Nodoubt most of our universities are awarding Phds like rewaris. If u guys reading newspapers, you will find out some of the universities have Theka system and Phd mafia around.
Despite all factual and conceptual errors, your write-up touches the core of the issue. The angry protest and over-reaction from Ph.D holders (including professors) amply suggests so.
Suppose a MBBS doctor or gold medalist in say Physics joins the civil service and gets himself busy his knowledge starts to stagnate and becomes dangerously inadequate after a period. They must relinquish the right to call themselves a medical doctor or a specialist in Physics even after say 3 or 5 decades when a child of that generation is better equipped in knowledge of that subject. Only the vested interes will disagree totally.
what the hell.. do you mean that a doctor's degree should be reviewed?. do you say that a doctor forgets its medicine in course of time... what pathetic article is this... and my question is WHY only Ph.D..if you wanna review ph.d than why not all degrees.. Ph.D holders do research in their respective field...if they dont perform than they will be out... what is this bullshit about expiry date.. Does author himself have done Ph.D?...if not than who gave him right to say whatever bullshit he wanna say about Ph.D
RE:pathetic
by toni singh on Jan 19, 2008 02:52 AM Permalink
You are truely right, this the of those who didn't achieve anything and getting frustrate..........
nice article..whoever has written it originally and whoever is now rewriting it. the original writer forgot that the research work done at study level has nothing to do in real life. its just a foundation. actual research people do in their career later. tomorrow this intelligent person will suggest for all to go to 1st standard because it should expire..isnt it ph.d. filters all people who are not suitable for this type of work. it improves a persons capability to analyse a problem and derive conclusion from it. and for their kind information...most of the findings done by people who has done their phd 20-30 years ago... their research work is their study all their life where they learn all the time.
I would like to tell the gentleman to try his hand at getting a Ph.D. in science and then suggest an expiry date for Ph.D.. It takes nearly 6 years for doing a decent work for Ph.D., if it were to expire in 10 years of what use would be. So nobody would do any research and PhD also would be a out of question. Hence I strongly suggest the author of this article to do a PhD himself in science and then if he suggests this it would be meaningful.
RE:About Expiry Date for Ph.D.
by Harsha Kumar on Jan 19, 2008 12:56 AM Permalink
Whoever wrote this article seems clueless about the rigours involved in getting a PhD in the first place. It takes 4 to 5 years of effort to get a good quality PhD. Why the hell should it expire in 10 or even 20 years? There are already quality-control mechanisms to judge the quality of PhDs..for e.g., publication record. Why the hell should the PhD 'expire'? Just look at the publication record and judge for yourself, why bother with 'expiry dates'? Will there be similar 'expiry dates' for all degrees then? And what will be the procedure to judge those 'expiry dates'? Aren't we making things a bit too complicated here? Rediff should stop giving space to such incompetent writers who are clueless about the subjects they are writing on.
RE:About Expiry Date for Ph.D.
by Bonny Banerjee on Jan 19, 2008 02:09 AM Permalink
I totally agree. These guys (Ramu, Gopu, Agu, etc. etc.) surely do not have a PhD and if they have, I am sure it is granted by a university they started.
A person goes through the rigors of a PhD not to prove something to the world but to satisfy his thirst for knowledge. He loves what he is doing, that is why he can spend so much time and effort doing it. A PhD in a subject, say Physics, will not necessarily work in Physics for the rest of his life but that does not mean the time and effort he spent getting his PhD went in vain. He learnt how to get to the depths of knowledge all by himself which will be an asset to him for the rest of his life and he can do the same in any subject that he will fall in love at any point in his life.
Ram Gopal Agarwal -- Dude, how did you think you could comment on what to do with PhDs with your BullShit or MoreShit knowledge? Get a PhD first from a university that you didn't start and you will know for yourself what it takes to be a PhD.
And as usual, rediff has maintained its tradition to publish meaningless articles.
If there is any chance of this getting implemented, the first ones to protest vehemently will be our IIT and IIM professors who are enjoying a paid retired life in the beautiful campuses, without any effort at good quality publications in top tier international journals. And whatever publications they manage to get are by forcibly putting their names in the articles of their hapless phd students. This is a known fact in the academic circle. All their effort goes in campus politics. There are only a handful of sincere academicians in Indian campuses, most are just living off the phd degree they earned 100 years back.
There are some areas where certain achievement is valid for specific periods - like GATE, NET, etc. when achiever has limited period to bank on the achievement. There are certain other areas where the achievement/event is seen more permanent - IAS, Chess GM, Degrees (BE/BTech/MBBS/CA/LLB etc.). It is well understood that in case of permanent conferrng of honour too, quality may change (increase/decrease) later. Chess GM's rating may fall, skill of a degree-owner may get blunt due to lack of use, etc.
Since PhD (or DLit, DSc etc) is an honour and not a gateway like GATE/NET, it should remain permanent. However, to ensure that a person does not bank on a single achievement throughout life, other criteria may be set for a particular career. e.g. do this or that withi next 10-12 years.
