Rite of Passage

You could see it on her face, that mildly stunned, disappointed look of "is that all?" There was no drum roll, no fanfare for the common man, no disco ball flashing lights. But, you could tell that she expected something, anything more than what just happened. I reached out my hand to shake hers to be first on to say "Congratulations Dr.Smith!" But, that was clearly not enough.

Her reaction is more the norm than not. Doctoral students work so hard, for so long doing coursework, cramming for the preliminary examination, conducting the dissertation research, writing, more writing and even more writing. Then during the last few weeks, they sprint with anxious breath toward the day and hour of the defense.  After all that, all those years, all that tuition money paid and earnings lost while in school, anything short of gold confetti is bound to seem anti-climatic.

I could not tell her or explain how or why that what she had just experienced (as do nearly all doctoral students at the same moment) will now be the reality of the academic life she has chosen. She had, maybe for the first time, had experienced the reality of how hard, enduring, quite work is rewarded; that perseverance and dogged pursuit of an elusive goal (whether a degree, a grant award, or a publication) is expected and assumed. We, the omnipresent we of society, pay no head to effort expended, only to the product.