[bfrs]

"Defaults aren't usually in the best interests of those on the bottom (e.g., Ph.D. students), so it's important to know when to reject them and to ask for something different. Of course, there's no nefarious conspiracy against students; the defaults are just naturally set up to benefit those in power."

That is very reminiscent of Nietzsche.

Also worth reading, when it comes to the question of to do or to not to do a PhD is: http://philip.greenspun.com/careers/women-in-science

[mjb]

That Greenspun essay makes me angry every time I read it. The kind of clubhouse mentality of "we don't invite girls to our club because they wouldn't be stupid enough to join our dumb club anyway" is nothing but thinly veiled paternalism. He makes a good point about pay, but the way he frames it as a paternalistic pat on the head to women is insulting, at best.

[anothermachine]

You should rebut Greenspun's arguments, not slander him by words in quotes and pretending they paraphrase what he wrote.

How is this paternalistic or uninviting to women?

> A lot more men than women choose to do seemingly irrational things such as become petty criminals, fly homebuilt helicopters, play video games, and keep tropical fish as pets (98 percent of the attendees at the American Cichlid Association convention that I last attended were male). Should we be surprised that it is mostly men who spend 10 years banging their heads against an equation-filled blackboard in hopes of landing a $35,000/year post-doc job?