It's weird: I finished grad school and left the local planning commission last December, which freed up a ton of my time. Somehow, though, it feels like time is more scarce, though I'm generally less stressed out.

Observation: perception of time is affected by structure and rigor.

I can't decide if I'm happier with less stress, less structure, and the perception that time is scarce, or if I prefer deadline pressure, structure, and the sense that there is always juuuust enough time to do the things I need to.

Though I did look up from my newspaper and tea yesterday and think, "I should get another degree."

@emdeesee I think that our generation's constant feeling that we should go back to school is born from the lack of time for learning, as opposed to doing, that neoliberal capitalism enforces on us. Learning for the sake of it feels like time wasted in being unproductive, so it only matters if we can make it the sole (or predominant) focus of our time in the attainment of a piece of paper that is a synecdoche that distinguishes that learning as having been productive.

@SuzanEraslan For some, and by some I mean "me", the academic setting is a helpful system of incentives to expend effort on the dry bits of a subject, creating a foundation for moving on to the juicier bits. I aspire to autodidacticism, but value the structure of academic formality, not to mention being surrounded by other people doing the similar stuff, with whom to share thoughts and debate. The paper is way less important than the process ... to "some".

@emdeesee @SuzanEraslan Although I think this is true, I also think the majority of students aren't interested in the process, even in grad school. A lot of students are getting terminal Masters or have no plans to move on to phd; they're in it to make themselves more marketable now that a four year degree is a prerequisite for professionals.

@SuzanEraslan @allianora Don't ruin it for me, you two!

@emdeesee @allianora But we're not ruining it-- capitalism is and has for quite some time ruined the entire structure of the ivory tower meant for scholarly pursuit. If we're freed from the yoke of the profit (or just roof over our head and food in our bellies) motive, we would, at last, be able to return to a collective scholarship as a pursuit in and of itself.

@SuzanEraslan @emdeesee Agreed. I'm frustrated because I pay for classes where we are supposed to read and then discuss ideas, but the overwhelming majority of students who are also paying for classes do not do the readings, show up to class because they it's required in order to pass, and then don't say anything because they don't know anything because they didn't read because they don't care. So everyone's time is wasted and the university makes money. yay.

@allianora @SuzanEraslan I'm sorry you have to deal with that; it sounds frustrating. I was lucky: that was not the norm in my program. When it cropped up, prepared students (and the instructor) didn't let that shit slide. It wasn't hostile, but it wasn't accommodating.

@SuzanEraslan @allianora This feels to me like a debate, but I'm not sure why it would be, because we largely agree. The forces that tolerate mediocrity in higher education are present in virtually all educational settings, from high schools conveying diplomas on kids who can't put together a sentence, to "black belt mills" in the martial arts. The fact that these problems exist, though, doesn't mean these structures per se lack value, right?