What does a Ph.D. mean?

 A ‘Doctor of Philosophy’ is the highest academic qualification one can strive to achieve.  It comes with many years of hard work, sleepless nights, frustrations, as well as some Eureka moments.  More people quit the Ph.D. program than those who are awarded the degree.  It is truly the test of tenacity and hard work.  No wonder once awarded a doctorate, people feel a sense of great achievement.  They have a right to feel so.  Society at large looks up to someone with a Ph.D.  Unfortunately, all this drama could give rise to the monster of arrogance, rude behavior, and a superiority complex.  Some of them with a Ph.D. try to create an aura of being a scholar and know-it-all person.  They look down upon others in a subtle way.  They lose the humility to admit when they do not know something. All of this is a cause for concern.

As a Ph.D. advisor or a guide, I have been observing student’s behavior up close.  I have a couple of students who have graduated as well as some who are still pursuing a Ph.D.  This has certainly given me a different perspective of what a Ph.D. means and what it should mean.

Students often get into a graduate program and work towards a Ph.D. for the wrong reasons.  When asked why they want to pursue a Ph.D., their answers reveal a lot about their ultimate motive.  I often hear some of the following answers.  ‘Oh, it looks good to have a prefix in front of my name as a doctor’ or ‘It is mandatory for me to get a Ph.D. for a promotion as an associate professor’.  A majority of students are not in a Ph.D. program for doing good research.  They are not for the pursuit of knowledge.

I remember reading Freeman Dyson’s words on giving a Ph.D. to all graduate students so that they would do good work afterward.  Those words have been very interesting to me ever since I was a doctoral candidate.

Today, I feel that giving a Ph.D. to people and hoping that they would do great work is a utopian dream.  I am sorry to say but I am disappointed in looking at the segment of students who have completed their doctoral work and how they are wasting it. I see them do exactly what they should not be doing.  They are interested in writing every single correspondence with the title ‘Dr.’ added to their name regardless of whether it is written to family members and friends or in professional correspondence.  I am not against adding the title.  There are times and places for using the title.  With the title ‘Dr.’, you are conveying that you have the tenacity to solve a given problem and are willing to work hard to get to the bottom of the problem.  However, it is quite contrary to the actions of many Ph.D. holders.

So, we come to the question of what it means to have a Ph.D.  Having a Ph.D. is not about being a member of a special club to boast about. It is not about showing superiority over others who were less fortunate to pursue higher education. Getting a Ph.D. enables you and trains you to understand what is research and what is good research.  It is not something to brag about. As a Ph.D. holder, one is the ambassador of the ‘pursuit of knowledge’.  

A Ph.D. holder needs to continue to do research in any field of their choice may it be in their academic expertise or other fields of interest.  At the same time, being in the ‘pursuit of knowledge’ means that one should read from other disciplines to appreciate research being done in other fields.

It is often seen that some people with a Ph.D. make a distinction based on the discipline implying that their discipline is superior and much more difficult to get a Ph.D. in.  That just shows complete ignorance on the part of the person.  Most universities award just a Ph.D. degree without specifying the department.  I had to correct the first page of my Ph.D. thesis since I had put the name of the discipline on the first page.  I was told that the university was awarding me a Doctor of Philosophy degree.  It meant that I could philosophize. The word philosophy means ‘the rational investigation of the truths and principles of being, knowledge, or conduct’.  Ph.D. is not linked to a discipline.

The most important act that a Ph.D. should engage in, besides continuing to do research, is to promote knowledge.  A person with a Ph.D. should set an example to their immediate relatives, friends, children, and other people that they come in contact with that knowledge is supreme.  Everyone should understand the power of knowledge.  It is the responsibility of a Ph.D. holder to make this happen and put in effort so that others turn to the path of gaining knowledge.

There are different age groups one comes across.  Let’s divide them into children, young adults, and adults.  As a Ph.D. holder, you should encourage children to do well in their studies.  Push young adults to pursue higher education. If one looks around it is very easy to find people who are completely unaware of the importance of higher education.  We have to make them aware of it and actively encourage them.  It is not enough to just do lip service and say that getting a higher education is important but to make that change happen.    The only way to measure the effectiveness of your efforts is to count how many people were convinced and pursued higher education.

Adult members of society need help with various things.  Today, technology is developing rapidly and it is hard for many to catch up with it.  Thus, one can spend time and simplify complex, day-to-day things for adults.   Often patients are unaware of do’s and don’ts.  Many do not understand the importance of completing the due course of medication.  One can explain the importance to them and encourage them to complete the treatment. Some people are not savvy with computer-related work.  You can go and help them.

The bottom line is as a result of getting the honor of having a Ph.D. and people looking up to you, how many lives have you changed for the better?  Sissela Bok, a Senior Visiting Fellow at the Harvard Center for Population Studies, is a philosopher.  She is the daughter of two Nobel Prize winners, Gunnar Myrdal and Alva Myrdal.  She says that one should create a sphere of influence.  At first, you start small but then start growing the sphere.  This is how one can start helping society. In the beginning, you can start with your own family.  Ensure that they pursue this path of higher education and the pursuit of knowledge.  Then grow the sphere to include your friends and acquaintances.

All said and done, a Ph.D. is not the only way to do good research, be creative, innovative, or promote education. There are quite a few individuals who do outstanding work without getting a Ph.D.  One of the shining examples is that of the physicist, Freeman Dyson.  He did not have a Ph.D. but many scholars at Princeton did postdocs under his guidance.  He has many things in Physics and Mathematics named after him such as the Dyson Series, Dyson Transform, and Dyson Sphere to name a few. Dyson calls the Ph.D. system a ‘gross distortion of the educational process’.

As a responsible individual in a society, you are expected to help others.  How many people have you encouraged to pursue higher education?  How many people are better off in their careers because you helped them understand the importance of education?  Philanthropy means the love of humanity. In that sense, your efforts to make human lives better are individual philanthropic efforts.  If you are actively helping society, go ahead and call yourself a doctor only to continue the cycle of helping even more people.