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comment by am_Unition
am_Unition  ·  2423 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Ph.D. students face significant mental health challenges

    Could you expand a bit? Feel free to ignore it if that's a touchy subject, I'm only casually curious.

Sure. Without a strong sense of collective cultural identity, the student body becomes more fragmented than it would have been were it entirely domestic, when we would probably fare better if we banded together. Perhaps more importantly, when a large percentage of the student body is only permitted to reside within the country on a student visa, it creates an unwillingness to buck a culture of blind compliance.

    I wanted to write something more supportive but we had those discussions and it doesn't sound like you're in the mood for a dose of platitudes. Hang in there, though.

Nah, I'm always into hearing why I'm wrong, or why I should take a more moderate position. You never have to worry about laying a proper smackdown upon me. I can take it, trust me. I'll be hanging in (t)here though, I'm in too deep to back out, anyway (hence, another problem - by the time one understands the problem, it may be too late to motivate yourself to affect change)

While I have your ear, I want to be very clear: I do not hold grudges against the foreign students, many of them are my good friends. But I haven't seen any discussion elsewhere about the unintended effects of this situation, which is especially prudent if my department's demographics are currently ~50/50 foreign/domestic, and trending towards more foreign entrants. This conversation is long overdue, and no one's talking. When they are, it's behind closed doors; I've heard some snippets of those private conversations, and they are not pretty.





Devac  ·  2423 days ago  ·  link  ·  
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am_Unition  ·  2423 days ago  ·  link  ·  

No, I can't begrudge these folks. They're wonderful human beings, truly.

    mr A Devac

pronounced "Mr. ay backlash plus backslash plus Devac", of course.

    I wish you well and the amount of bullshit you can endure only proves your passion.

<3, Devac. Thanks man, and the same to you. :)

Devac  ·  2423 days ago  ·  link  ·  
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am_Unition  ·  2423 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Lol, it disappeared in the quotation, too. Perfect.

Devac  ·  2423 days ago  ·  link  ·  
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user-inactivated  ·  2423 days ago  ·  link  ·  

In this one instance I say it's a feature, not a bug ;)

Devac  ·  2423 days ago  ·  link  ·  
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