The Power of a Doctoral Education, Part II
May 21, 2009 I wrote an entry on the power of a doctoral education, questioning whether a doctoral education was a guiding outlook, like optimism? This idea that a doctoral degree and those three little letters and your decision to pursue this degree has a far more extensive impact than intellectual growth only.
In my initial entry, I wrote on the power the doctoral education has on impacting those indirectly, which prompted “Mike” to further the conversation and elaborate the power it has on self-identity and this idea of a uniquely individual, transformative effect – further confirming that there is in fact a spiritual element to this power.
Today, I’d like to take that conversation further and question how doctoral education can both paralyze you or empower an individual to overcome great challenges.
As I prepared this entry, I was brought back to my undergraduate work and recalled the occasion of reading Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man. Pulling the book from the shelf, I found Ellison’s initial words poignant and appropriate, “All my life I had been looking for something, and everywhere I turned someone tried to tell me what it was. I accepted their answers too, though they were often in contradiction and even self-contradictory. I was naïve. I was looking for myself and asking everyone except myself questions which I, and only I, could answer. It took me a long time and much painful boomeranging of my expectations to achieve a realization everyone else appears to have been born with: That I am nobody but myself. But first I had to discover that I am an invisible man!”
I was struck by how many of us here are invisible. How many pursuing a doctorate are looking for something that can only be found within. But then I thought back to the Survey of Earned Doctorates (SED). In 2006, the SED reported, “the proportion of doctorate recipients reporting ’some college’ as the highest parental education category has shown a gradual decrease over the past thirty years (from 16 percent in 1976 to 13 percent in 2006). At the same time, the proportion indicating an earned baccalaureate degree as either parent’s highest education level has shown an increase of about the same magnitude (from 20 percent in 1976 to 25 percent in 2006) (page 27).
Education is changing our landscape, no question, but there’s something tangibly different about doctoral education to suggest that this degree represents a more important thread of the American dream fabric. How many enrolled in these programs are representative of a first-generation doctoral learner? I was reminded of this again this past quarter when one of my recent graduates shared that this degree represented achieving the Dream her parents marched for in the 60’s. It represented overcoming the still present remnants of slavery that bonded her ancestors. And even today, for her, it demonstrated to her children, and her children’s children, an achievement that no wall is insurmountable. The power of doctoral education then becomes much deeper, it that, it is the power to overcome not only one’s own invisibility, but that of generations past and present.
So I close this entry, have you come to find yourself through others? Are you asking others the questions that you should be asking yourself? Have you discovered yourself? Are you succumbing to paralysis or surmounting the wall(s)?
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June 22nd, 2009 at 3:27 pm
Great post! Thank you!
Having been deeply enmeshed, professionally, in a Training Department and taking the Training and Performance Improvement doctoral program has been an amazing confluence of theory and practice.
Last week I got surprised by a lay-off! It was done as humanely as possible, thanks to the efforts of my manager. It was also my manager who had strongly enroucaged me to pursue the doctoral degree, in the first place.
This all made me stop and think about whether I should continue in the program or not. I am hoping to be able to do so, in some manner.
Being able to see myself as a doctoral learner “on my own” as opposed to a doctoral learner who is taking a program of study closely associated with my job, is a big step in perception that feels rather good. (It’s just a matter of figuring out how to pay for it, now!)
I now feel more as if I am earning the degree for me, a visible person, as opposed to a generic cubicle dweller.
June 23rd, 2009 at 7:49 am
I enjoyed your post, and your reference to ‘The Invisible Man.’
I believe my mother raised me as not to be invisible, my sister, who knows. But, I often joke with people about how they will never forget me, how could one do that! The reality is, I listen, I care, and I respond: in this day and age, many simply do not listen, much less care or respond appropriately. Of all the things that may offend, being treated as if I am stupid is my sincere pet peve and will set off all my buttons at once. This has nothing to do with my education, except for the fact that I have done it one my own, no parent paying, and I am all first generation from my undergrad onward. I simply cannot stand being placed in a category of all those who do not ‘read the instructions,’ ‘who will not follow the directions,’ or who simply are too lazy and want someone else to do it for them, so they act like they simply do not get it.
Before I started any of my degrees, I knew I was smart, and had the capability to learn anything (thanks Mom!). So, I have never been invisible: I have always wanted to know, and attain, a higher position at work or in education. I find people remember me now, and I have long forgotten them. I am not suggesting I am a celebertiy or charming, I just make an impression, and have always been told it is a good impression. I will never be one of the masses (George Orwell’s, 1984), I will always be Rene, and the only way I will be invisible is if I so choose for whatever occassion (perhaps the first colloquium, at least at first).
June 24th, 2009 at 6:25 am
I applaud you for continuing this conversation Jon. During this journey I have met myself many times in joy and frustration,no, make that despair. I now realize it has always been a personal journey, and a transformative one as you so eloquentlyprsented.
Had I kept a personal journal, I would probably be able to go back and create a template of my own milestones for this personal journey. These undoubtedly, like rings in a tree trunk, will be the ones that will be me forever.
Gratefully, we were available to meet up at various points on this path to celebrate the victories and eventually, to laugh about the frustrations.
Mike
July 6th, 2009 at 7:21 am
I read your words encouraging the reader to delve into the reflective question regarding the “invisible man” quandary and was overcome with emotion. You summarized the circles I have been running in asking everyone around me whether a doctoral degree was something I should do, when in reality, the questioning belonged squarely with myself only. Why was I so interested in others answers about my decision to pursue a doctoral degree? In analyzing this consideration I guess I wanted the approval of others that it was a good decision and that my life would be enriched if I achieved this degree. The answers could only be found within me and the self reflective process of whether this is a good decision for ME. Would I lead a life enriched if I chose to make this decision? No one had the answer that brought me peace until I answered the question with myself. Thanks for this post; it clarified what I was wrestling with internally.
Melanie Paul-Cook
August 1st, 2009 at 7:52 pm
This is amazing. We are all visible with yet an invisible one inside us. That invisible man is the hidden talent embedded inside us by our creator. At the point of impact of our self rediscovery, transformation takes place that will challenge our cognitive thinking and reshape the way we respond to our bewilderment and hopelessness. Doctoral learning shrouded in mystery and has a way of shaping our destiny. Before now I thought I knew who I was but I was wrong. I rediscover myself through listening and asking questions about things I don’t really understand-why people do the things they do? I now understand why. It is because they want to discover life at its best. Thanks for provoking this thought and please keep it going. Life is a pilgrimage, the experiences varies depending on where you are going.
Asuquo Edem