I have been impressed by the level of interest and support I have received from teaching colleagues since I became a doctoral student. After being a mere full-time temporary for two years, it seems I have become "bona fide" by demonstrating my committment to higher education and my undergraduate teaching. I have become a serious member of the community, one of the club. I often have colleagues asking how my coursework is going and when I'll be done. I appreciate their interest and advice.
Today, a colleague asked how it was going. I told her I was about halfway through my program, finishing coursework this fall and just beginning serious contemplation of a dissertation topic. She told me she had her research question when she entered her program, and every course she took she used to contribute to her research and dissertation.
I know we all must approach this in our own way, but I found that a bit sad. For me, the joy of this program has been giving myself time and license to explore topics I have always been interested in without the pressure of quickly determining THE topic. It helps to have an advisor who promotes and validates this philosophy.
I am not on the fast track here, but then I don't have the time constraints many of my fellow-students have. Perhaps this perspective comes from age or the fact that I have already had a wondorous career. I remember a comment made by a seventy-year old gentleman at my "retirement" party. He said, "Your 30-year career seems like your whole life right now, but at some point you will realize it is just one phase of your life." I am discovering what my next steps-my next career might be. Life is very good.
And so, I savor the moment, all the while knowing that soon, the exploration will draw to a close, and it will be time to just do it.
By the way, I have been somewhat open (probably too open) with my blogging struggles. I had help last night when I watched the movie Julie & Julia, where this young lady gave herself one year to cook all 540 recipes in Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking. She blogged about it the entire year, and saw both the cooking and the blogging as exercises in mental discipline. OK. That makes sense to me.
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I too glory in all I have learned because I've taken a range of classes. And all seem to feed into the way I am approaching my dissertation, but the question I arrived with is not the question I will explore in this final big project of my program. I have been lucky enough to spend time with another student who is collecting data. I have watched her evolve even as she is in the midst of data collection. What a treasure to watch her refine her questions and understandings. I ache to experience the same -- even as I know I have experienced it and will continue. I too am enjoying the process (even though I'm racing through).
ReplyDeleteAh, yes, Julie and Julia as testamony to the blog! And Julie got a book deal out of it! Beautiful!
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