April 4, 2010

Doctoral Education Shouldn't Be a Marathon

The salvation may mean embracing the enemy: professional schools

Doctoral Education Isn't a Marathon 1

Jonathan Barkat for The Chronicle Review

By Lee S. Shulman

I couldn't get an old science-fiction story out of my mind. It told the story of a special school whose programs were designed to educate that tiny elite of the galaxy's population capable of exploring the edges of the universe. With a laptop and a search engine at my disposal, I found my way back to "Academy for Pioneers," by Raymond F. Jones (1956). The plot was simple. The academy was an elaborate hoax designed to make it possible for students to learn the unteachable. Although faculty