‘A toxic culture of overwork’: The graduate student mental health crisis
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Re: ‘A toxic culture of overwork’: The graduate student mental health crisis
#2Meanwhile in China we have 9-9-6. The US needs to wake up to whether it wants to stay in the game.
Re: ‘A toxic culture of overwork’: The graduate student mental health crisis
#3Meanwhile in China we have 9-9-6. The US needs to wake up to whether it wants to stay in the game.
That sounds like a recipe for terrible productivity and inability to do creative work...
Re: ‘A toxic culture of overwork’: The graduate student mental health crisis
#4Meanwhile in China we have 9-9-6. The US needs to wake up to whether it wants to stay in the game.
There are people everywhere who work very hard. A corporate culture doesn’t tell you much about socially positive outcomes in research.
A faith in corporate culture may, though. Conformity, in any country, is incompatible with effective R&D.
Re: ‘A toxic culture of overwork’: The graduate student mental health crisis
#5Meanwhile in China we have 9-9-6. The US needs to wake up to whether it wants to stay in the game.
I don’t think overwork matters
Re: ‘A toxic culture of overwork’: The graduate student mental health crisis
#6Meanwhile in China we have 9-9-6. The US needs to wake up to whether it wants to stay in the game.
Hours worked is inversely correlated with GDP per capita. China needs to step down if they want to try to be competitive.
Re: ‘A toxic culture of overwork’: The graduate student mental health crisis
#7Meanwhile in China we have 9-9-6. The US needs to wake up to whether it wants to stay in the game.
Sleep science says this is a terrible idea
Re: ‘A toxic culture of overwork’: The graduate student mental health crisis
#8I can somehow relate to that. I'm suffering from an anxiety disorder since I was 15, was diagnosed with 18 and started some (unhelpful) therapies in that year. Later, during my
masters, at some point I finally had a mental breakdown and ended up 3 months in psychiatry. I was simply overwhelmed by a) coping with panic attacks before, during and after lectures, and b) coping with the increasing pressure to perform. But the major issue behind that breakdown was actually the decision between coming of age, or letting my anxiety take responsibility for my life.
I decided for the first. After psychiatry I was basically able to leave my room and go to lectures again. I took another 2 years ambulatory therapy to take full responsibility for myself, and 5 years to finish my masters. After that, I started a Ph.D., and during that time my mental condition went from like "cannot imagine how the fuck I ended in psychiatry" to "one final straw, and I'm back in psychiatry". Although it went well, I certainly would not do it again.
That said, I obtained my masters/Ph.D. at some no-name university in Germany. I was able to pay back my student loan during the Ph.D. studies and left university with savings. Also, I'm not in ruin because of a 3 month hospitalization. Thus, reading about insane performance/financial pressure at (elite) universities combined with the questionable health care system in the US for me is terrifying.
Re: ‘A toxic culture of overwork’: The graduate student mental health crisis
#9Meanwhile in China we have 9-9-6. The US needs to wake up to whether it wants to stay in the game.
Meanwhile in China you also have one of the highest suicide rates per capita in the world.
Re: ‘A toxic culture of overwork’: The graduate student mental health crisis
#10Meanwhile in China we have 9-9-6. The US needs to wake up to whether it wants to stay in the game.
There are people everywhere who work very hard. A corporate culture doesn’t tell you much about socially positive outcomes in research. A faith in corporate culture may, though. Conformity, in any country, is incompatible with effective R&D.
We are talking about Stanford here. I don't know, but to me it feels like someone getting into the NBA or trying out for the Olympics having a problem with hard work.
If you can't do the work why take up a spot in one of the best schools in the land? Isn't that a valid question? Especially in the hypercompetitive world we live in?