Can we discuss this country and its universities in a professional and mature manner, please?
Political Science Job Rumors » General Job Market Discussion
Canada
(1051 posts)-
Posted 2 months ago #
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Unfortunately we've repeatedly shown we are unable to do so. Some of us are unbelievably immature.
The solution is to post specific threads for each job, thus hopefully deterring some of the worst behavior.
Posted 2 months ago # -
Short answer: no.
Canadians have consistently done this to their own threads. Back when they had their own blog, they had to delete it because they couldn't control their own people. I personally find this hilarious, because the Canadians I've known have been sterotypically mild-mannered and genial colleagues, but, evidently, they simply cannot handle internet threads up there. It's a consistent pattern.
Posted 2 months ago # -
When pigs fly, then maybe.
Posted 2 months ago # -
Nope. In fact, this one should be deleted.
Posted 2 months ago # -
Of the schools offering the Ph.D. in political science:
Top tier:
British Columbia
McGill
TorontoSecond tier:
Alberta
Carleton
Simon Fraser
Western Ontario
YorkThird tier:
Concordia
Dalhousie
Ottawa
QueensFourth tier:
McMasterI omit the schools only giving the Ph.D. in French.
Posted 2 months ago # -
The second tier can be moved in with the third, and McGill can hold the second tier alone.
Posted 2 months ago # -
Any list that doesn't specify subfield is useless (only Toronto, and maybe McGill, is uniformly solid across the board).
Posted 2 months ago # -
Here we go again....why not NOT follow the US example and actually look at the research and writing (and teaching, and public service, etc.) output of individual candidates and faculty rather than trying to collectively categorize PhDs based on their schools. The class system is dead, except in the hyper-identity conscious USA and UK. Get over it. Certainly some departments are stronger in certain sub-fields, methods, or geographic areas than others, and some are just plain BIG, but focus on scholarship not reputation.
Posted 2 months ago # -
I want whatever ^^^^ is smoking; must be some good shit!
Posted 2 months ago # -
^ "The class system is dead," eh? That's as may be, but it doesn't make categorizations and rankings useless or false. And I bet you'd love it if your institution were placed somewhere higher in the rankings than it likely is; I say this because of the lack of sense in your post, and the likely correlation between that and you being at a dumpy place.
Posted 2 months ago # -
"except in the hyper-identity conscious USA and UK"
haha. I don't understand what your post is about but if what you mean is, "let's all imitate the thriving academic systems of Italy, Angola and Thailand [no class consciousness there, grasshoper]", uh...haha!
Posted 2 months ago # -
^^^^ Is out to lunch.
Posted 2 months ago # -
I just noticed that the poster everyone is piling onto suggested that universities be gauged based on "public service". Look, public service is swell, but, uh, there's nothing particularly academic about it, so don't hold your breath kiddo.
Posted 2 months ago # -
"Focus on scholarship not reputation": uh, yeah, scholarship is what builds the reputation.
Posted 2 months ago # -
Watching a bunch of Canucks arguing over ranking = watching a bunch of midgets arguing over who is taller.
Get your head out of your ass and face the reality: you all suck.
Posted 2 months ago # -
^Undoubtedly from someone who is at a top 32.
Posted 2 months ago # -
^ Still a helluva taller than midgets.
Posted 2 months ago # -
^ Still heckuva sense make.
Posted 2 months ago # -
Did someone call Wilford Brimley a midget?!
Posted 2 months ago # -
Canadians sure know how to free ride, that's for sure. How about setting up your own board/blog and taking your inconsequential bickering over there?
Posted 2 months ago # -
^ They used to have their own blog, but they had to shut it down, because they couldn't police themselves. Seriously. Their own moderators finally gave up on them and shut down the Canadian blog. That's why I still say that the only solution for this board will be banning Canadian threads altogether - all of their threads to date have had to be deleted eventually, just like their old blog. It's kind of weird. Like I said above, most Canadians I've known have been ideal colleagues.
Posted 2 months ago # -
FWIW, my sense is that they've (Canadian political scientists, that is) got a massive inferiority complex, and that accounts for a lot of what's going on here. Also, they're very self-important and almost glib about how great they think Canada is, so that tends to lead to nuttiness when you point out that Canadian universities are second-rate at best.
Posted 2 months ago # -
Of the schools offering the Ph.D. in political science:
Top tier:
British Columbia
TorontoSecond tier:
McGillThird tier:
Alberta
Carleton
Simon Fraser
Western Ontario
YorkFourth tier:
Calgary
Concordia
Dalhousie
Ottawa
QueensFifth tier:
McMasterI omit the schools only giving the Ph.D. in French.
Posted 2 months ago # -
^^ Yeah, I don't think that's quite it, because when we had to shut down our own blog, it wasn't because of arguing over how great Canada is: the only people around were other Canadians. Most of the problem with the Canadian threads (and the old blog) seems to come from APs and ABDs with a tremendous sense of entitlement and contempt for the people around them. It's not so much an issue of showing that they're better than Americans as showing that they're better than all of their colleagues. I can only guess where that comes from. But FWIW, here's my guess:
Canadians are sterotpyically "nice", and indeed Canadian departments do tend to be "nice". But just for that reason, you end up with ABDs or APs who've never really been forced to compete or assess themselves very honestly. So when they actually get on the market and things don't go their way, it drives some of them nuts. My sense is that at American departments, especially those outside the top-three/five/whatever, candidates are made to feel lucky just to survive and come out with any kind of job. So, basically, what you're seeing in the Canadian threads (and their old blog) is a paradoxical product of Canadian niceness. Or at least that's my theory right now.
Posted 2 months ago #