心理专业学生如何才能做好学问？第四部分

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The View From Graduate School

As a graduate student nearing the final stages of my degree, I am always on the lookout for helpful information and encouragement about the academic job market. The exchange among Taylor, Seligman, Sternberg, and students offers a bit of both, as well as a realistic view of what some of the more important personal challenges are in pursuing a career in academia.


Many research‐focused graduate students idealize the academic career and aspire to have one. However, the jobs are few, and the competition fierce. As Taylor points out, once you get to graduate school, everyone is smart. Of course, even in this group there are those who clearly rise to the top. They are the ones who will get 12 interviews followed by 12 job offers the first year that they are on the market. Then there are the other 90% of us, teetering on the edge of marketability. Those of us in this group are well aware that to procure and then keep that coveted academic position, it will probably be necessary to maintain or possibly increase an already heavy workload, cut corners in personal and social lives, and endure a great deal of rejection and negative feedback. Still the hope of an academic career keeps us going. Most of us have a great deal to offer academia: We are good researchers and good teachers; we have invested a lot into our training, and our universities and professors have invested a lot in each of us in return. Unfortunately, the fact remains that there are simply not enough academic positions for everyone who wants one and is qualified for one.


From this perspective, it is encouraging to hear the advice and insight of people who have made it in academia. Hearing about their various experiences reduces the gulf between a doubtful‐yet‐aspiring academic like myself and these successful scientists. Their words convey the sense that they are a lot more like me and my fellow graduate students than we realize. They emphasize the same concerns and priorities that graduate students about to enter the job market are thinking hardest about. All three of the panelists have first‐hand experience with the foremost worries of graduate students. They all admit that the academic workload is enough to require some shortcuts and compromises, they have each struggled with diverse issues and choices in balancing their personal and professional lives, and they have also each experienced varying types and degrees of rejection. Their stories of their failures and rejections are, for me, the most thought provoking and surprising of all the experiences they describe. These range from such things as feeling like an outsider, to getting articles or grants rejected, to the most profound of all: being denied tenure. Through all of these experiences, they survived and in the end even flourished. I cannot help but be inspired and hopeful after hearing about some of the adversity that these ultimately successful people have withstood.


Also encouraging is the concern that the panel repeatedly expressed that graduate students should concentrate on what is personally relevant, both in terms of research interests and career possibilities. Each of them speaks of how crucial the events in their personal lives have been in shaping their research. They also talk about how important it has been to hold true to their own opinions, even when very unpopular. The panel is adamant that every graduate student should develop his or her own personal definition of success, rather than accepting without question the pervasive academic value system. It is nice to hear this message repeated, because although I am aware of its truth, it is easy to forget during my day‐to‐day life as a graduate student. It is not that graduate students are actively discouraged from thinking about careers other than prestigious, research‐oriented academic positions; it is just that there is less information available within academia about other options. There are also relatively few accessible nonacademic role models. This situation seems to be slowly changing. It definitely helps to hear well‐known academics speaking with pride of their successful students who have pursued nonacademic careers. This not only changes peoples’ attitudes, it also gives graduate students some idea of how diverse the possibilities are for careers outside of academia.

The panel also advises graduate students to make sure that they keep in touch with what is going on in the world around them and not to lose sight of the broader context in which they are conducting their research. The reason for this is both to increase the relevance of the entire field of psychology to world events and world concerns and to enrich an individual research program. Another benefit of broader awareness is that it prevents researchers from becoming too focused on their own paradigm and unable to see anything outside of it.

One very interesting piece of advice that emerges from the panel discussion is the importance of being creative in solving the problems one encounters in an academic career. For instance, to keep up to date with psychological literature, each panelist has developed a unique and deliberate method. The panelists also mention some of the very creative strategies that they have used to help them balance their personal and professional lives.

Encouragement and helpful advice are two elements in the panelists’ comments, but there is also a pretty good dose of reality. There are quite a few things that the panelists would like to see changed in academia and in the field of psychology. They acknowledge that their careers have not always been easy. They have dealt with negative feedback and failure, tough personal choices, and phases of unpopularity. Though they have led very different lives, and they have had completely different careers, they all seem to agree that it has taken a great deal of determination, or perhaps passion, to succeed in academia. Despite the encouragement their remarks provide, it cannot be denied that the worries expressed by graduate students have a strong basis in reality. The experiences described by the panelists underscore the truth of these worries rather than alleviate them. In fact, many students are of the opinion that the situation is getting even more difficult, with fewer and fewer jobs, greater competition, shrinking funding sources, and an uncertain future for the tenure system. If this is the case, then the challenges we will have to face as we work our way forward in academia could be even greater.

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研究生对此次辩论的评论
The View From Graduate School
       作为一个临近毕业的研究生，我总是在寻求有关工作市场的帮助信息和鼓励。泰勒、塞利格曼、斯腾伯格和学生们的交流在这两方面都给了我很多，同时也让我对学术生涯追求中更重要的个人挑战是什么有了一个现实的看法。
       很多研究取向的研究生对学术生涯发展理想化了，并热望能拥有一个这样的学术生涯。然而职位很少，而竞争却相当激烈。就像泰勒所指出的，一旦走进研究生院，每个人都是很优秀的。当然，即使在研究生群体中，仍然有一些表现得更为拔尖。他们在12面谈后就能得到12个职位的录取通知，而这还是他们一年级时在人才市场上的情况。我们中其余的90%则徘徊在市场的大门外。我们也非常清楚去获取并保住那个觊觎已久的学术职位，维持，甚至增加已有的工作量，积累个人和社会经验，忍耐无数次的拒绝和负面反馈都是很必要的。但我们仍然希望能继续自己的学术生涯。我们中的大部分人都能对学术有所贡献：我们是好研究人员和好老师；我们已经在自己的训练上投入甚多，而且我们的学校和教授也在我们身上投入很多。不幸的是，并没有足够的学术职位留给每一个希望拥有，并有资格拥有的人。
       从这个角度看，得到各位已在学术界摸爬滚打的专家的建议和见识是非常令人鼓舞的。听到他们各不相同的经历，减少了像我这样充满疑虑但仍然怀抱学术抱负的人与这些成功的科学家之间的隔阂。他们的发言让我感觉他们比我们想象的更像我和我的研究生同辈们。他们强调那些与即将进入人才市场的研究生正在努力思考的事情。三位专家对研究生的首要担忧有第一手的经验。他们都同意学术的道路充满捷径和妥协，他们每个人都在平衡他们个人和职业生活中与各种问题和选择做斗争，同时他们每个也都经历过各种类型和程度的拒绝。他们所讲述的失败和拒绝的故事，对我而言，是最有思想的，不可思议，出乎意料。这些故事从诸如感觉像个局外人，到论文或基金申请被拒绝，到最严重的：终身任职被否定。经过这些经历后，他们生存了下来并最终取得了成功。在听到这些最终取得成功的人所经历的不幸之后，我忍俊不禁，但得到了启发，获得了希望。
       另一个让人倍感鼓舞的话题是这次辩论反复表达的是研究生应该专注于与个人有关的那些事情，包括研究兴趣和生涯发展。他们都提到个人生活中的事件在形成他们的研究中多么重要。他们也谈到坚信自己的观点多么重要，哪怕他们暂不入流。这次辩论坚持认为每个研究生都应该发展自己对于成功的定义，而不是不加批判地接受时下的学术价值系统。很高兴再一次听到这个信息，因为虽然我知道这个真理，但是作为研究生我们很容易将它遗忘在日如一日的日常生活中。除了声望、研究取向的学术职位，并非对生涯发展的思考让研究生失去信心，而是有关学术界的信息太少。（生涯发展中）也有相对较少的非学术角色模型。这个境况似乎改变很慢。能听到著名心理学家对他们的得意门生从事非学术的生涯感到骄傲，无疑给我们莫大的帮助。这不仅会改变人们的态度，也告诉我们研究生，学术之外的道路是多么宽广。
       此次辩论会也建议研究生要确信他们能跟上其周围的世界正在发生的事情，不要失去了自己对正在进行的研究的那个更宽阔的背景的洞察力。这样做的原因是既能增加这个心理学与现实世界的关联，又能丰富个人的研究计划。宽广视野的另一个好处是防止研究者由于太过集中于他们自己的范式，而看不见研究之外的任何事。
       讨论中出现的一个有趣的建议是创造性地解决学术生活中出现的问题的重要性。例如，对于如何保持与心理学文献同步，每个辩论者都已发展出独特的深思熟虑的方法。辩论者也提到他们用以帮助自己平衡个人与职业生活的创造性的策略。
        鼓励和建设性建议是辩论者评论的两个基本要素，但是也有相当多的事实。辩论者想看到的心理学界的改变是相当的多。他们承认他们的生涯发展并非总是一帆风顺。他们也处理负性反馈和失败，艰难的个人选择，和不受欢迎的时候。虽然他们过着不同的生活，拥有完全不同的学术生涯，他们似乎都同意要取得学术成功必须要果敢和激-情。尽管他们的评论给我们很大的鼓舞，但不可否认的是研究生们所表达的担忧仍然有很强的现实基础。辩论者所讲述的经历强调了这些担忧的准确性，而不是否认了它们。事实上，很多研究生持有的观点是环境越来越艰难，职位越来越少，竞争越来越激烈，资源是萎缩，终身职位系统拥有的只是不确定的未来。如果这些是事实，那么我们不得不面对的学术之路将要面临更大的挑战。