Teachers with Ph.D. can go beyond textbooks, tweets IISc Researcher

A Researcher/Teacher from the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore, Arindam Ghosh, tweeted on his official account saying that teachers must hold a Ph.D. degree.

According to his tweet, possessing a Ph.D. degree allows teachers to ask better questions to students so they can find answers beyond textbooks.

"Teachers in a serious University must have a Ph.D. degree. Because doing a Ph.D. teaches us how to ask questions without obvious answers and create new knowledge. Students must be taught by such people because they need to know how to go beyond the textbook," the tweet read.

Following the tweet, there are several comments by Ph.D. candidates stating whether they agree with the researcher or not.

Siddhant Pusdekar, studying at the College of Biological Sciences (CBS), disagreed with the statement. According to his comment, a Ph.D. will not suffice.

"Not sure a Ph.D. is necessary or sufficient for that. There are several non-PhDs getting students to generate knowledge in many small universities with very few resources. On the other hand, plenty of PhDs with tons of research exp. are not great teachers," he wrote.

Similarly, Saurabh Gayali, a Research Scientist at the Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR), wrote that many don't even get the chance to prove their teaching ability.

"Due to the same, eligible Candidates are not getting suitable salary offers. Some candidates are not even offered teaching posts, and many PhDs don't even get a chance to prove their teaching ability," he commented.

Contrary to the disagreements, a student studying at MIT, Shreyas Gokhale, tweeted that he couldn't agree more, adding that teachers in a serious University must have a Ph.D. degree also from a serious University!

"Unfortunately, not all Ph.D. degrees come with the essential skills that you have outlined," he wrote.

Published on: Friday, May 20, 2022, 01:15 PM IST