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Content source: ScienceNet Blog
Direct source: English version of Zhejiang University Journal
Author: Peng Silong
I have taught doctoral students for more than ten years and have graduated more than 30 doctoral students. However, there has always been an unsolved problem, which is that most of these students are unwilling to endure hardship and feel that their teachers have not given them an easy path. They are eager for the teacher to give them a topic and give them some ideas, write a few high-level papers quickly, and graduate smoothly. In reality, some students do graduate in this way, and their graduation results look very bright, but when they actually go to work, they find thatthey are just people with a doctorate but have not entered the scientific research hall. People. As far as my personal experience is concerned, it has been proven countless times in history that a perfect doctoral study process must be a painful process and cannot be a smooth process. In China, this painful process has become It is especially necessary. You can refer to the following reasons.
1. Pain means spiritual self-challenge.
Today’s society is a fast society with extremely abundant information. Everyone is impacted by a large amount of information and becomes restless, and few people can calm down and do scientific research. Unlike the era of material poverty, when people had nothing to do, doing scientific research was a kind of fun. People may be attracted by all kinds of information every day, and they are rarely able to focus on one problem. Energy is dispersed. This dispersed state is very detrimental to scientific research. A truly challenging topic is definitely a challenge to human thinking and energy. As ordinary scientific researchers, we do not have extraordinary talents. If we do not invest a certain amount of energy, we should not expect to be able to produce good scientific research results. And when the energy invested in one thing reaches the limit, everyone feels that they can’t bear it anymore. If it lasts for a long time, it will be very uncomfortable, which manifests as both mental and physical pain. Although it felt uncomfortable at the time, the process seemed unavoidable.
Let me tell you a personal experience. During my Ph.D., my supervisor once asked me a question in the afternoon and when I was about to have dinner, he told me that he wanted me to answer the question the next morning. Answering this question required knowledge that I was not familiar with, so I quickly borrowed an English monograph from the library and read it all night. At around 7 o’clock in the morning, I understood how to answer the question. I complained a lot at the time, but later I understood that this was the process of self-challenge. That book has only been read through that night.
2. Pain means the challenge of in-depth application of knowledge.
To do scientific research is to surpass our predecessors and our contemporaries, at least in a certain small point. But transcendence requires giving reasons for transcendence, one of which is that it must transcend the depth of knowledge. When we study, most of us are satisfied with exams and memorization, but the in-depth application of knowledge is very insufficient. When we are searching and thinking hard to solve a problem, we are constantly deepening the continuous refining and processing of the knowledge we have learned, and finally getting a meaningful combination, which may be able to solve a challenging problem. Our studies before graduate school are often not in-depth enough. The knowledge that has been tested by the project is our real knowledge. However, the process of in-depth thinking and application of the knowledge we have learned is not easy. This requires us to change our understanding of knowledge and change the order of knowledge. This different approach from the past often makes us uncomfortable, uncomfortable, and painful over time. But knowledge that has not been rearranged, organized, and deeply processed is actually worthless.
3. Pain means improvement in knowledge and understanding
We have learned a lot of knowledge, and on the surface we know a lot. However, during the scientific research process, we found that our understanding was not in place or wrong. We also used to have our own understanding methods, but in the specific scientific research, we found that those understandings were very shallow. . In the face of challenging topics, we can only get better understanding and understanding by constantly changing our views on existing knowledge and understanding and understanding from different angles. Most of the time, our knowledge is just stored in our brains, and we only feel it after we truly understand it. This kind of understanding is more important than the success of the project, because this kind of understanding can make our knowledge come alive and serve our work or life. This gain will be of lifelong significance. But this kind of forcing yourself to leave the existing position of understanding, thinking and understanding from another position, and sometimes even doubting it, is also psychologically uncomfortable. If you are not adaptable for a long time, it will be a kind of pain. But this pain seems necessary.
4. Pain means the arrival of light after groping in the dark night
There is no easy road to scientific research, and there is no completely replicable road to success. Every successful scientific researcher encounters countless darkness on the road of growth, constantly gropes in the darkness, exhausts all kinds of wisdom, and finally reaches the light. arrival. This state of groping in the dark is something humans are not used to, because humans are only adapted to walking in the light. There is no sense of direction, no path, and uncertainty at every step. This psychological state of facing all kinds of uncertainties is undoubtedly uncomfortable. But no one can always move towards the victory of scientific research in the light. But just like the natural laws of nature, darkness is already in front of you, and light will not last long. As long as you persist and keep going, there will be light. This pain is caused by a psychological fear and is a process that must be experienced. Without going through wind and rain, there would be no rainbow. Without experiencing darkness, we cannot expect the light to come.
5. Pain means the beginning of self-recognition
In the previous stage of study, we were accustomed to being recognized by teachers and parents. This recognition has become the psychological support of every student for a long time. However, on the road of scientific research, especially in the face of challenging topics, everyone are equal. Teachers, students, boys, girls, old people and young people, all the differences disappear, only one soul is fighting. The process of scientific research is an absolutely equal world. In this world, everyone must be independent, challenge themselves, and ultimately admit themselves. Without self-recognition, there will be no confidence, and without confidence, there will be no breakthroughs in scientific research. But going from recognition to self-recognition is not a natural process, but a difficult process of removing crutches. Without psychological support, people will feel uncomfortable, lost, and even afraid. This is another cause of suffering. But this pain is also necessary.
In general, studying for a Ph.D. is the only way for Chinese students to enter scientific research (except for a few geniuses). After studying for a Ph.D., they will continue to deepen their understanding of knowledge, deepen their ability to apply knowledge, learn to go all out, learn to explore in the dark, and finally Learn to be independent, especially spiritual independence. None of these gains can be realized in a relaxed and happy process, and will inevitably be accompanied by pain, hesitation and even fear. Only by overcoming these psychological discomforts and even challenging the physical limits can we reach the other side. If you want to be relaxed and happy, then don’t study for a PhD. When studying for a PhD, you must be prepared for pain. With these psychological preparations, you may be able to complain less, speed up, grow faster, and finally get Everything you want.
Postscript, I am surprised that so many people are paying attention to this article. I thought this was common sense. Some readers have different opinions, please correct me. I think the biggest misunderstanding may come from the word “pain”. This is the easily misunderstood aspect between people. To say that creation is only fun is to exaggerate the beautiful side of creation. You can look at “John Christopher”. Every transformation and creation of Christopher contains joy and a lot of pain. After Lu Yao finished writing “The Ordinary World”, he wrote some short articles describing the various pains in the process of creation, which can be used as annotations. Ordinary scientists rarely talk about the creative process, so they cannot see the so-called pain, but the pain experienced by people is an inevitable process every time they are reborn. This is human nature. Like an animal shedding its skin, there is no joy, only pain. No one describes the process of childbirth as a very happy process. Happiness may be a short-term gain after pain.
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