Psychoanalysis and my senior thesis

[Alina Israeli]

> This community seems
>incredibly scornful of eager undergrads

This is typical of most humanities and serves as a form of initiation rites
(not that I support it, just like to analyze it). In my experience in hard
sciences it's different: either you get it or you don't, age and rank don't
matter for acceptance, gender sometimes does. (Age particularly doesn't
matter since most great discoveries are made by the young. It works
differently in humanities.)

It is a bit ironic if you think of it that a prefessor humiliates a grad
student (I am sure it's been witnessed by more than one person) not
thinking that in a couple of years that former grad student will be his
colleage and peer review his own writings. But the instinct of verbal
initiaton is too strong either to kick it off or even realize that it's
there.

>  Food for thought--how would you feel if
>your advisees were subjected to the treatment you put undergrads at
>other schools through?

It's either a) forgetfulness or b) lack of empathy ("I'll do onto you
what's been done to me"). In both cases it correlates with post-Jungian
analysis of parent-child relationship and various forms of child abuse.

__________________________
 Alina Israeli
 LFS, American University
 4400 Mass. Ave., NW
 Washington, DC 20016

 phone:    (202) 885-2387
 fax:      (202) 885-1076 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Use your web browser to search the archives, control your subscription
  options, and more.  Visit and bookmark the SEELANGS Web Interface at:
                    http://seelangs.home.comcast.net/
-------------------------------------------------------------------------