Chapter 72 11. Not a Ph.D. supervisor

Doctoral supervisor is a unique title in Chinese academic circles, referred to as doctoral supervisor.I am not a PhD supervisor.In fact, I am willing to guide students, and there are often young people who eagerly hope to be my students.I became a researcher in 1994, and logically, I was qualified to lead a doctoral student, so I made this request to the person in charge of the Institute of Philosophy at that time.The Institute of Philosophy has always suffered from the lack of applicants for graduate students. When some well-meaning people in the Institute heard that I was going to enroll students, they excitedly said that this time the candidates should be squeezed through the door.However, they were happy in vain, and my application has not been followed.Since then, I no longer take the initiative to apply. However, it is about the time to declare once a year. Once I was asked whether to apply. I gave an affirmative answer, but there was no more follow-up.I don't know why, and I never asked, because I felt that if I did, it would be an insult to me and the person being questioned.

Two years ago, I received a letter from a gentleman who finished his Ph.D. and post-doctoral studies at Fudan University and is now a professor at a prestigious university. In the letter, he expressed his intention to apply for my Ph.D.This letter prompted me to inquire about the possibility of the matter again to the relevant personnel in the institute, but I got a negative answer.I wrote a letter to this gentleman, the full text of which is as follows—— "I went to the Institute of Philosophy today and read your letter. After you have obtained your Ph.D., completed your postdoctoral program, and served as a professor, you still hope to apply for my Ph.D. I am touched. However, there is a situation that may surprise you: I am not a doctoral supervisor so far, and I am not qualified to supervise students. I once proposed to supervise students, but there is no follow-up, and I will not mention it again. I don’t care too much about the situation. I have always shied away from any matter of scrambling for fame and fortune within the system. I will never try it again. However, after reading your letter today, I made an exception and asked the relevant department. The answer I received was Yes, there are new regulations this year, people who have reached the age of fifty-seven (which happened to me this year) are no longer eligible to apply for doctoral supervisors. I am not an arrogant person, but I still can’t help but feel sorry for the Academy of Social Sciences, because it itself Deprived of the opportunity to brush off one of its stains.

"Of course, if you are willing to compromise, there are plenty of Ph.D. supervisors in the Institute of Philosophy. But, frankly speaking, some of them are not worthy of being my students. Putting myself in your shoes, my idea is: if your purpose is to transfer to Beijing Or the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences to work, then anyone can apply for the exam, anyway, it is just a tool; if you want to return to philosophy, then, in fact, you don’t have to do a doctorate again, you can do it on your own This. Even if I am qualified to recruit you, I will make this suggestion to you. In this case, I am happy to discuss and communicate with you as a peer."

Please allow me to quote my reply here as well: "It is difficult for me to understand the current system. Many of my undergraduate classmates are in the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, and they have been doctoral supervisors as early as the mid-1990s. Of course, your knowledge is in the general On top of learning, because it goes beyond knowledge, it is a deep thought of life. I don’t want to come to Beijing to work, if I want to, I can always come. I do my doctorate as a dissertation topic, and I think it’s okay to get to know A person who is a teacher and beneficial to intellectual learning. There are not many people in the Institute of Philosophy that I really admire, and you and Li Zehou are among them."

People who have reached the age of fifty-seven cannot bring students. This rule is ridiculous in itself, let alone.Why was I not allowed to take students before I was fifty-seven years old?I don't even try to figure out the secret reason. I guess the grand reason is just that I don't do my job properly.The philosophical essays I write are not academic achievements, I know that, and I don’t care, because I didn’t write for a statistic in the first place.However, because I wrote these things, does the Nietzsche research and translation I did not exist?Until now, am I not recognized as a leading figure in this field?It seems that the strange rule in Chinese academia is that when evaluating your academic ability, your ability to express words is included in the calculation as a negative number.Any words that express vividly, no matter what the content of the expression is, cannot be counted as achievements.Not only that, but because they exist, the assessment of your formally compliant academic achievements is discounted accordingly.Thus, if you write a great deal of literary—and therefore judged non-scholarly—work, then, even if your writings that are admittedly scholarly are not lacking in absolute numbers, their offsetting , is quite high in quality, at least higher than most of what they make, which they still feel they have the right to ignore.

I have always been indifferent to the affairs of the unit, and I have never fought for any interests within the system.I have too many things to do, I don't have time to care about them, I never participate in awards or anything, and I don't know who won the awards.The social science fund is a major benefit of the system. I applied for it a long time ago, but was rejected, and then I stopped applying. It was only after the implementation of the system that everyone must have a project that I declared a small project, otherwise I would have to laid off.I can't figure out the various benefit mechanisms, and I don't want to figure it out.Once, quite by accident, I saw a trick. At the end of 2002, the institute issued a new standard for post allowances, and researchers were divided into two levels, and everyone was asked to vote, which was regarded as a public opinion survey.The conditions for the first tier are clearly defined, such as academic leaders, award winners, and key project leaders.The ballot lists the list of all researchers on the job and corresponding indicators, including doctoral supervisors, awards, academic committee members, review committee members, key topics, outstanding contributions, special allowances, etc., and the situation of each person is clear at a glance.For the first time, I found that most people’s indicators are very content, but mine is almost blank. There is only one item of special allowance, and this item is shared by almost everyone in my qualifications. Later, it was only because the implementation was stopped. Those with less seniority will no longer have a share.I suddenly realized that all these indicators are interrelated. As long as you get one of the key items, such as key topics, other benefits will follow.On the contrary, if you don't fight or fail to fight, you will lose everything and it's none of your business.

What I am talking about here is actually not a matter of the unit, but the general situation in the academic world.To tell you the truth, I am very satisfied with my unit. The heads of various classes are very tolerant to me, and the general staff are also very friendly to me.What I am most satisfied with is this job. I can’t imagine a better job in the world. I get a salary but don’t have to work. I can sit at home and study topics I am interested in.In such a unit, as long as a person has his own true interests and does not get involved in trivial conflicts of interests, he can live a comfortable life.I have fully enjoyed this benefit. As for the benefits that I did not get, they were not what I wanted. I am just stating the facts without any intention of complaining.The only regret I have is that I am not allowed to lead students, because I believe that I can lead well, and those young people who want to learn from me should not lose this opportunity.There have been some public criticisms of academic corruption in China today, and more private discussions.I haven't done any research, just a hunch.My feeling is that the fundamental problem in today's academia is officialdom, and it has brought in all the corruption in today's officialdom.The key point is that the evaluation mechanism that determines the status and treatment of a scholar is non-academic. Official factors such as power and interpersonal relationships play a primary role, supplemented by equally non-academic workload indicators.There is also a certain connection between the two. For example, it is easy for a person to use power to master some large-scale projects and ask others to do specific work, but it is also counted in his own workload.I often feel distressed by the large amount of project funds that the country spends every year. I believe that there will be some projects that have made real and meaningful contributions, but they have also produced a lot of academic rubbish.Once a project is approved, it can get funding, and it is not a problem to publish a book after completion. As long as a book is published, it is an academic achievement, which improves the academic status, that is, enhances the qualifications to obtain more project funding, and thus forms a cycle.The establishment of the project has such a miraculous effect, how can people not do their best to fight for it.Topics are also divided into levels, the higher the level, the greater the benefits, not only economically, the level itself directly means and transforms into power.However, how many people ask whether the so-called academic works produced in this way will be read now and in the future.In fact, people know that many books are forgotten as soon as they are produced, and their only use is to serve as a necessary link in the project approval cycle.Looking at the whole society from a unit, people will find that today's academia is very much like a big social field.Some scholars seem to be very busy. They hold various academic titles, are busy running relationships and soliciting funds, and keep holding or participating in various academic activities, but they can never sit down and do some serious learning.Every time I get a business card filled with various titles, I'm amazed that I've met another super-spirited person, and I've never thought of seeing this person again.The corruption in the academic world doesn’t stop there. I’ve been dumbfounded by what I’ve heard. The depravity of some educators’ souls is appalling. They even use their power in admissions, examinations, and graduation to ask for bribes, including sexual bribes.When this phenomenon becomes a trend, how can parents in the world still have the heart to send their children to universities, especially prestigious schools.

Sometimes I can’t help but laugh when I think about it. For a long time, I have not participated in any activities in the academic world, no matter whether it is inside or outside the system, but I do not belong to any other circles, and I really don’t fit in any circles.However, I am working very hard, but my job does not constitute competition with anyone, so I don't have to worry about winning or losing outside of this job.I am not a very confident person, but my self-confidence has just reached this level, which enables me not to care about external gifts and rewards.In my life, there are no goals marked by status, such as academicians, members of parliament, ministers and the like.People who strive for such goals, whether they are anxious about setbacks or exultant about their successes, I smell the same smell in them that makes me unable to bear to spend three minutes with them.I was also at an age when I was deluded by vanity, because at that time I hadn't seen the essence of things, especially my own essence.I feel that I have now stood in a most suitable position, which belongs to me completely, and the steps of all pursuers will not pass through it.I don't know what day I came to this place, but it must have been a long time since I'm so familiar with it.

I'm retiring next year, and I can't help laughing when I'm asked if I'm intimidated by it.how could be?On the one hand, I am already living a kind of retirement-like indifferent life. On the other hand, since I will continue to do what I like to do, what does it matter to me whether I retire?Of course, the word retirement is not in the lexicon of any spiritual creator.