http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/03/education/03education.html?em&ex=1191902400&en=86a7bd330d09a27b&ei=5087%0A
October 3, 2007 On Education
Exploring Ways to Shorten the Ascent to a Ph.D.
By JOSEPH BERGER Correction Appended
Many of us have known this scholar: The hair is well-streaked with gray, the chin has begun to sag, but still our tortured friend slaves away at a masterwork intended to change the course of civilization that everyone else just hopes will finally get a career under way.
We even have a name for this sometimes pitied species — the A.B.D. — All But Dissertation. But in academia these days, that person is less a subject of ridicule than of soul-searching about what can done to shorten the time, sometimes much of a lifetime, it takes for so many graduate students to, well, graduate. The Council of Graduate Schools, representing 480 universities in the United States and Canada, is halfway through a seven-year project to explore ways of speeding up the ordeal. . . .
Last edited on Sun Oct 7th, 2007 05:49 am by mackinaw
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