ネット上では著名な経済学者が書いた身の引き締まる名文だとして絶賛されているようだ。確かに身が引き締まる部分もあるが、戸惑う部分もある。
記述の一部に、米国大学院に在籍するクラスの上位に入らない1/2から2/3の学生はほぼ無視され、ろくな教育が受けられないという見解が「徹底的に差別」という過激な表現とともに見られるが、本当だろうか？一部の大学院生の配属先研究室が決まらないということは起こるかも知れないが…。
問題の記述を以下のような拙い英語に訳して、米国大学院を卒業した同部屋の研究者に見せたが、少なくとも生物系では大学院生 は研究室に雇用されるのが普通なので、無視されるどころか、給料分思いっきり働かされるだろうとのこと。
UCSDの現役の学部生に尋ねてみたところ、そんな話は聞いたことがない、そもそも教育したくない学生なら最初から学校側が入学を 受け入れないだろうとのこと。
最後にUCSDの現役の大学院生に尋ねてみたところ、"All the students in our program are well supported"という聞いていて実に快適な返事が 返ってきた。やはり学校とはこうあるべきなのかな、と。
これ以上尋ねて回ると、こちらの良識を疑われかねないので、この辺にしておく積もりだが...
Fumio Hayashi
September 14, 2004
(revised September 21, 2004; October 22, 2004)
A reference letter that I will write to graduate schools in America and Europe
In Europe and America, especially in the United States, graduate students who are not ranked within the top half or one-third of the classmates (students with the same year) are completely discriminated. There is no support of living expenses and no exemption of tuition fee. No professor wants to be the supervisor of such students, and a professor who reluctantly accepted to be a supervisor of such students do not spend his or her time for them; the professor do not respond to emails from them, and even if such student makes an appointment after difficulties, the professor keeps the student waiting at the time of appointment, or cancels the appointment at the final minutes. Your tuition fee of $30,000 will be used as scholarships for top three students in your class.
In this situation, even if the student write a paper on his or her own, the supervising professor will only write the student’s reference letter with no useful information since the professor does not know what the student is doing. Also a placement officer (the professor who supports job huntings of students) will not recommend the student at all. The reason that this kind of tragedies occur is because the fame of a graduate school depends on how many people became superstars after graduating that school.
(Excerpt and translated)
