A reader contacted me last week to share the photograph on the right and a reflection on leaving academia. I thought it was a nice day to end of the work week:
I thought I would share with you a photograph I took that captures my leaving-academia sentiment. I took this photograph on campus while I was doing my Master’s there. I like the juxtaposition between the cold, set sidewalk and the friendly dirt path that students have worn in the otherwise manicured lawn. To me it shows that you can create your own path even when the university is bent on you following the path they have laid out for you.
I’m still at the beginning of my PhD, but I do not plan to continue in academia when (if!) I complete it. Like you, I enjoy research, writing, teaching; a friend recently referred me to your site and I am appreciative of it because the PhD, while it has components I enjoy, also tends to beat me into the ground and is primarily my way of biding time while I figure out what else I can do with my life. I know I can and will create my own path; I have come to that realization after a very difficult first year in the PhD. Deciding that I won’t be continuing in academia is actually the key to me being able to relax, enjoy myself, and believe in myself.
With that, I’m going to suggest that you give that a try this weekend: relaxing, enjoying yourself and believing in yourself. See you next week!
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Thanks for posting your reader’s wonderful thought and photograph:
I agree with what the photographer is saying. In my view, those student-made paths on the otherwise manicured campus lawns of the world are of great value just as they are. They also allow us to consider our modern values and what the goals of higher education should include. If the goal is simply to fit students into a well-structured society at some time in the future then the sidewalks are all you need. On the other hand, if the goal is to encourage in them the gifts of objective or creative thinking or a love of learning something new each and every day, then the more paths like this one, the better. Any campus that has such a path and allows it to remain so without turning it into just another cement sidewalk has something special to offer its students.
“Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.”
-John Lennon