I like the WPA-list for a bunch of reasons. For one, it’s a great place to keep up with the profession. In addition, there are a lot of interesting discussions, and numerous jobs are posted there. But perhaps even more important, I often learn from the list what it is I do not want to do. That’s right, regularly reading the threads helps me determine what types of practices and techniques I do not want to use in my classroom or professional development. This has saved me a great deal of time.

Every couple months I think about going for my doctorate. “It would be wise,” I tell myself, “and I’d be so much more employable.” However, it would take a chunk of five or seven years out of my life. The discussion on the WPA-list for the past week has convinced me to not bother for at least a couple years. While earning a doctorate would, no doubt, increase my chances of getting a tenure-track position with solid pay and health care, earning that piece of paper is no guarantee. And, as I’ve learned repeatedly, if you are happy where you are, then it is goofy to change your situation. Given that I’m happy and pretty content overall, I don’t want any significant changes in my life. Even if I was not very content, there are several aspects that make earning the Ph.D. seem very unappealing.

First, I would have to move somewhere else. Unfortunately, the closest doctoral programs in rhetoric/composition that interest me are in Santa Barbara, California, and Pullman, Washington. I do not like moving. I hate moving. The idea of moving repulses me. Second, I do not want to spend 30 hours a week writing a dissertation. Based on what I have read on the WPA-list and heard from many Ph.D.s, getting the diss done requires that amount of work. If I am going to write 30 hours a week, then I want to write fiction, narratives, book reviews, essays, blogs, and so on. I do not want to spend that much time on composition theory or rhetoric at this point in my life. I wrote two MA theses two years ago and I am not interested in repeating that process any time soon. Perhaps in the future, but not now.

Another important reason I do not want to go for a Ph.D. is that I have no idea what I want to study and research. It is foolish to enter a doctoral program without a sense of direction. This dovetails perfectly with my final reason: I am happy teaching and not doing research. I know that I will need to do research in the future, and I am interested in eventually pursuing that path. However, I like teaching. I want to improve my teaching. Focusing on teaching makes much more sense to me now than forcing myself to do something I’m only half interested in: a doctoral program. While I have been concerned about my lack of a Ph.D. — according to former mentors, teaching as an adjunct for more than two years will render me as academic “dead wood” — I no longer worry about it.

Pursuing a Ph.D. would not be a positive, useful, or viable experience for me at this time, and I now have a slew of reasons why. If I had not subscribed to the WPA-list, if I was not tapped into other professional groups and following other dialogues, it is likely that I would not be as informed. Knowing myself, I might have been foolish enough to apply to a doctoral program before I was ready because I thought I should. This has enabled me to focus on what I am doing now — teaching — and know that what I am doing is the best thing for me personally and professionally. The result: I will be a better teacher, colleague, and partner. I see no reason to sacrifice those three things just to certify myself as a competent researcher with a high-end set of professionalized skills. At least not yet.

This entry was posted on Monday, December 31st, 2007 at 9:49 pm and is filed under Professional Development & Service, The Academic Scene. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.