Foreign Professor to Chinese Student: Go Make Money!

This translated blog post below appeared somewhere around the beginning of the month of June and has been reduplicated all over the Chinese internet (examples: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6). It is an essay written by a Chinese PhD graduate who tries to dispel some myths over graduate study overseas and what certification means abroad as compared to what it means back home in China. Because certification has a much greater significance back home, the author advises students to try to look beyond the American PhD diploma as a stepping stone and to only get one if they are truly interested in study and research.

Since you are so poor, why don’t you go make money, why are you doing graduate work?

When I went abroad to study, I went to see my advising professor on the second day after I got off the plane. My advising professor graduated from from John Hopkins University, worked as a scientist at Bell Labs, and afterwards joined the university to teach, becoming a full professor very young, then becoming dean. When he reached middle-age, he left the university to start his own business. Several years later, he had failed, and then again returned to the university to teach.

The first time I met the boss, a foreign professor, I was very deferential, saying, “Professor, I am a foreign exchange student from China and have come to get my PhD. I am very interested in your research methods. Can you please tell me which books I should read right now? I can go back and start reading them immediately, so that I can quickly start researching with you.”

After I was done speaking the professor eyed me over up and down, and then he calmly and smoothly said, “Are you rich? At the very least you must be a millionaire.”

To say the least, I was very surprised. I had to immediately refute those remarks; that is to say, if he thought I was wealthy he would not give me the position of assistant research fellow, and if that was the case I would not have the income required to continue to study. And if that was the case, I might as well pack up my things and go home. Therefore, I replied, “I am a foreign exchange student from China, I am poor but I really do want to learn— I am especially interested in your research.

The professor asked me again, “Is your family rich?”

This time around I steeled my will when giving him my answer. I said, “Not at all. I come from China and China is a poor country. My family doesn’t have any money.” He let me finish, and then said, “Since you are so poor, why don’t you go make some money? Why have you come here to do graduate studies? Committing to research takes money and time; it is a practice specifically for people with full bellies with nothing pressing to do. Only those with the money and the interest are really able to do graduate work. You say you are interested in my research methods but I think you aren’t interested in my research at all; instead, you want to work here with me to make some money. This has nothing to do at all with you wanting to do research [postgraduate studies].”

Hearing this, my whole face turned red. To be honest, I wasn’t familiar with the professor’s research methods whatsoever. Instead, I said I was interested because if I didn’t do this low-paying job the professor wouldn’t give me the position of assistant research fellow and then I wouldn’t have the money for school tuition. Because of the money situation, I had no choice but to say that I was very interested in his methods. The professor has seen a lot of students in his day; he could tell with a glance which students are interested in doing postgraduate studies and which are interested in making money. Naturally, the professor still allowed me to take the position of assistant research fellow, a job in which I worked very hard. Although I do not possess any inherent innate researching skills, I worked hard despite the criticisms of other people in the laboratory doing the lowly manual labor, just like that of a coolie. Throughout it all, the professor’s research expenditures always subsidized my studies and I eventually received my PhD diploma. After the graduation ceremony, I once again went to go see my professor. Naturally I was very appreciative; if it weren’t for all those years working as an assistant research fellow paying for my studies I wouldn’t have been able to obtain my diploma. As well, a particular Chinese phrase comes to mind when concerning this situation: a good teacher doesn’t just teach, but also acts as a good father figure. With that in mind, I went to go visit him to see if I could get any last pearls of wisdom from him before I left. At that time he said, “I could see ever since the first day we’ve met that your goal is to make money. Now you’ve gotten your PhD diploma, it’s finally time to do just that.”

“Go and make some real money!” This is the sage life advice he gave to me.

Many years later, I gradually came to recognize the profound wisdom he gave me. When all is said and done, graduate study is only for those who have money and time to spare. For those who want to perform some real research (since doing menial jobs in a laboratory is not truly considered research) you first need to meet two conditions:

1 ) You have a special vested interest in doing graduate study (similar to my own situation with my professor, except you are not lying about it like I was). There isn’t any money, no fresh flowers or beautiful girls here; no admiration from other people, and you have to study intensively all the time.

2 ) you can set aside economic pressures and responsibilities. People who have the basic necessities of life taken care of (that being of food and shelter) need only apply.

This is the basic theory behind the practice of tenure of professors in American universities. First, a recent PhD graduate must first steel oneself and complete 5 years of hard work. Afterwards, if you are picked by the group of tenured professors and one day pass their requirements, then for the rest of your life you will never have to worry about making a living again. At that point you can wholeheartedly devote your time to research and study. Naturally the school also knows that the overwhelming majority of these tenured professors have no research potential left in them. Equally impotent are the lowly menial workers of the research laboratory. However, out of the vast numbers of tenured professors a few stand out from the crowd that actually have talent and contribute positively to the economy.

I’ll raise an example for you: back in the 70s, photocopy industry leader Xerox was concerned about the rise of interest in computers; if everybody used computers to exchange messages then no one would use photocopiers and this would invariably cause the market for photocopiers to decrease. Therefore, Xerox constructed a laboratory at the Palo Alto facility and housed it with fifty to sixty of the world’s top leading computer scientists; by removing all outside interference and distractions including financial concerns, Xerox was able to let the scientists freely unleash their imaginations and create technologies that would lead mankind into the future. Such inventions of the time include:

1 ) a UI graphical interface 2) the Ethernet and 3) “object-oriented programming” (I don’t know how to say this in Chinese).

These trail-blazing inventions would establish the future of computer development, and would influence the course of civilization.

Each year for a short time in the spring, enrollment brochures and books from American universities arrive at the homes of millions of Chinese students, and year after year the majority of Chinese students look forward to receiving the enrollment brochures for these graduate schools. In order for many students to receive the subsidy for being an assistant research fellow they will apply for the PhD diploma. The vast majority of students don’t actually have any real interest in postgraduate study, but instead hope to go to the USA to make some money. Their logic for applying for a PhD is as such: in order to make money they need to obtain an American diploma, and to obtain an American diploma they need to go to America to study, and in order to go to America to study they need a scholarship, and to get a scholarship they need to apply for a PhD. Therefore, for a Chinese student to go study in the USA is the same as to go there to get a PhD since there isn’t any other choice. The two are the same according to this logic.

However, the original purpose of a PhD is to cultivate the ability to study and research. To do postgraduate study one must actually be interested in it, but more importantly than that the key point is that one must have both time and money to do this. It’s difficult to imagine ordinary everyday people who normally run around in circles trying to study and research like this. Postgraduate study is like music, it is a rich man’s game.

All the same, my professor’s words still ring true: Since you are so poor, why don’t you go make money? What are you doing research [graduate work]?

Comments from GTER:

一木菩提:

I saw this already a long time ago, this essay had a great influence upon my decisions later in life.

bolchacha:

XDDDDD
Wow, this really spread [on the internet]!
I had realized very early on that in the field of finances it is normally not necessary to get a PhD.

inmineway

That’s why I’m studying for my Masters [only].

gnehs:

A certain phrase comes to mind: “Science is a wonderful thing if one does not have to earn one’s living at it.”

lycong:

An excellent essay.

aydoy1:

Making money shouldn’t be any sort of scandal, I think the author’s ability to be introspective and soul-searching is very high. However, in China under this kind of education system rarely will this kind of person exist as many of us are products of a test-oriented education. Only once we’ve captured the best gaokao result will we asked, “How did you get the first place ranking in the province?” and in answering we will say “I had a favorable attitude, I think attitude is very important” (I’ve neglected the post; I’ve gone off topic). If from a small age we aren’t interested in learning, then how will we grow up to be good students? In China this is for certain not to work…

cuifeng:

I am suddenly reminded of the difference between a Ph.D student and a migrant worker~~

Julia服部:

XDDDD
I’m reminded of a lewd essay called “What is the difference between getting a phD and taking a crap on the toilet” ~ It was similar to this one, but I don’t remember very clearly.

moxiana:

Spoken well, written well, you are both savvy and understanding.

Comments from Looooker:

瀛洲落:

After I’ve read this I want to be a “four eyes” too; I agree; learning something done by the rich, not the working class.

汤小圆:

I think the key problem doesn’t rely on whether or not you possess an incredible, absolute amount of riches, but instead relies upon your opinion of whether or not you possess a lot of money.
There are some people who have billions, and yet they feel they don’t have any money.
And then there are some who all they have to their name is the meal they eat in the school cafeteria each day; the only thing keeping their bodies warm is global warming and hygienic clothes,
yet they already feel they are rich.
The former class of person will never be able to accomplish graduate work, whereas the latter is able.
Naturally, we need to exclude such people in the category of Batman and Iron Man as they can rely on enormous amounts of funds to support their research…

复读机:

Actually, it isn’t just a problem of how a person looks at wealth, but a problem of the values a society has as a whole.
If a single-value system can be replaced by a multi-value system, only then can society truly become harmonious.

Multi-value system. chinaSMACK personals.