So You Want to be Doctor

Some naive questions from my smoking buddy: What's the difference if you're a PhD degree holder as compared to a Master's degree holder? Is it difficult to take a PhD?
Those two questions had me think, why in heavens did I take PhD anyway?

Practically, for an academic like me, a PhD is a guarantee for higher pay and promotion. Its the only way to be granted the rank of a full professor, the highest rank that an academic would get. But that was not in my mind when I enrolled for a PhD.

Back in 2008, I took the liberty to finish my M.A. in Communication Management. I was required to take 3 units as penalty course, but I enrolled 9 units, as I saw that I needed to learn more. While I attended the courses, I was teaching part time training part time, and doing my thesis. I thought, I just had to learn, and to do what I have to be in school and in the field.

I had to learn so I can share more to my students and be a better teacher. On the other side of it, earning an M.A. degree guarantees me security in teaching in a college or university, since that is a basic requirement. While I successfully defended my thesis and saw value in my work, I began to think beyond the here and now. PhD is the next step if I would be faithful in my personal vision to contribute to the academe. The same degree will add credibility to my initial contribution to knowledge.

My options were, PhD in Applied Linguistics, PhD in Educational Psychology and the least of it was PhD in Communication. I decided for the latter because it would make me a real expert in the field of communication. It is a vertical advancement as to my field of specialization, since I graduated with a Bachelor's degree in Mass Communication and an M.A. in Communication Management.

What for is PhD if I have master's degree already? I can say without it, that I am expert already. But there is a body of knowledge and means of knowing them that are not taught or learned in the M.A. or undergraduate levels of education. The horizon of understanding the world is so different, that it indeed makes one a philosopher.

I am speaking of my experience from studying for a PhD from the Univesity of the Philippines. I can not say that my experience would be the same for those who took their PhD from so called diploma mills, and what one is taking up also matters. To be a Doctor of Philosophy in a specific field does not only add a title to my name, but it entitles me to have my contribution in the existing body of knowledge.

What's the difference? In gradeschool, we learn the terms that identifies the objects in the world and we describe those terms. In high school, we learn the concepts out of those terms and definitions we were supposed to know from grade school. In college, we try to derive concepts from generalizations that we can see applicable in the world, so that we can at least have a life outside school.

In the master's program, we thread the theories with the concepts we learned in college and determine how those theories apply in the social world. In PhD, we make the theories that make sense of the world. In other words, we contribute to the body of knowledge that perplexes the world.

A sophist, who has a passion for knowledge, persistent curiousity, and eagerness to learn, would not really need to attend a PhD courses. Who among the great Philosophers of classical times attended a PhD program? They merely gave theirselves time to learn, reflect and think about how people think. They argue with others and they argue with their thoughts.

But knowledge does not flourish in a vacuum. Learning is a social and cultural endeavor. Learning is assisted. Being in the PhD program have broaden and deepen my understanding of the many realities in communication. Which I will not have learned on my own even if I have those inclinations of a sophist. A PhD does not only teach what those early philosophers taught, they enable us to understand why and how they think they way they do.

In taking PhD, one learns to rediscover, uncover, recover, construct, deconstruct, theorize, synthesize knowledge from the existing and previous. Those who have gone through the path of knowing will have a lot to share to the new learners like me. And I appreciate all their contributions to what I know now.

A PhD holder, becomes a doctor of the field. Similar to a medical doctor, he sees, listens and observes the patient(phenomenon) and can identify the causes, implications and possible prescriptions to treat the pathology. In taking my PhD in Communication, it has enabled me to have the right senses and competence to understand the communication event and its elements in all its aspects.

The way to knowing is similar to taking that narrow road, and that narrow road does not allow for others to accompany the PhD student in his sojourn. My mentors are of great help as they introduced me to their mentors -- their professors in the letters of their published works. They are the beacons of light that guided my knowledge. They are enlightening as well as excruciating with their requirements and fanaticism.

If teachers require a student to read a book in a term in college, in the PhD program, several books have to be read in a few weeks. Reading may be easy, but understanding the complicated knowledge in those required reading materials is a pain in the neck. If to complete a bachelor's degree one needs to write a thesis, the PhD student has to write theses, one for every coursework in every term. Writing not just about what you read, but what you think of what you read is another gruelling task. One has to read so many things and construct meaning to all those things. That is PhD.

I still love it though despite all its odds.Like many other children, I too dreamt of becoming a doctor, but then I realized I got eeks for blood and open wounds. A Doctor of Philosophy does not carry a stethoscope, but the right lenses to provide understanding to the problematic world.