1/Always wondered why getting a #PhD was associated with a career in #Academia, especially because most universities offering the degree never train you how to teach! Apparently, the term doctor derives from Latin, meaning "teacher" or "instructor".
2/The doctorate (Latin: doctoratus)appeared in medieval Europe as a license to teach Latin (licentia docendi) at a university. Its roots can be traced to the early church in which the term doctor referred to the Apostles, church fathers, and other Christian authorities who taught
3/The right to grant a licentia docendi (i.e. the doctorate) was originally reserved to the Catholic church, which required the applicant to pass a test take an oath of allegiance, and pay a fee. That is the history.
4/Now, the reason for this tweet: It is high time we change the narrative around PhDs and the license to teach and the mindset of the #professors who want/expect their graduate students @NAGPS & #postdocs@nationalpostdoc to become professors.
5/ In the true spirit of the word Philosophy, which originated from Old French philosophie, via Latin from Greek philosophia ‘love of wisdom’, these PhDs should be encourages to apply the wisdom they gained to all areas beyond academia! They should be encouraged to explore
6/areas outside academia (true professional development). Let's start with encouraging them to pursue internships during the course of their pursuit of PhD, so they can get exposed to the possibilities. The current form locks them up at universities (Ivory towers), with their
7/professor (advisor) being the only connection to the rest of the world. While there are so many great professors who help their mentees, there are many more who cannot/don't help. This change needs to happen at the university level. I don't expect individual professors to adopt
8/such practices. It is not in their best interest if a graduate student or a postdoc goes away on an internship. The incentives are misplaced. Such systemic change probably should come from funding agencies such as @NIH or @NSF.Try making internships for grad students & postdocs
9/mandatory. It is time to evolve and prepare there for solving bigger problems by being a part of spheres beyond academia.
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