This post about how socialistic Denmark seems to have happy citizens has had several interesting comments spread out over the last several months.

Joke 1

Q. What do you call a flea-bitten Amishman with a sore throat?

A. Hoarse and buggy.

Joke 2

Q. What did the professor, whose daily habit it was to take a stroll about campus, say to the high school dropout who asked to join her?

A. “Can two walk together, except they be degreed?”

I am in a seminar class this semester (which may be the final class of my graduate school career, by the way), and I am required to write a critique of several speakers and their presentations. Here are some edited excerpts that may serve as some thoughts on public speaking.

On Presenter A: “… I also appreciate his presentation of stories. In my opinion, an effective story delivery method is one in which the storyteller is caught up in his story to the extent that he thinks it is intrinsically interesting and/or funny irrespective of audience reaction. This has the effect of making the story intrinsically interesting and/or funny to me. Dr. ___ possessed this quality.”

On Presenter B: “I’ve had the privilege of sitting under Dr. ___ in a class, and because of my experience there I would expect nothing less than an excellent presentation. And so it was. He possesses the rare ability to present complicated concepts in a way that makes them seem inherently understandable. He is the type of speaker who almost coaxes clarity out of complicated ideas based on his presentation skills alone.

Once, I wanted to say a word that meant “irrespective” and instead said “irregardless.”  You should have heard the clamor as I was roundly booed by my wife and her sister.

 

However, ”irregardless” is in the dictionary, though it doesn’t appear to hold a very favored status.

I will soon end my time as a graduate student in the statistics department at Penn State. I plan to graduate with a PhD by the end of the upcoming summer. Even before I leave, I’m growing nostalgic about the time I’ve spent here.   Happy Valley is a great part of the world.

The impending ending has prompted some reflection in terms of personal growth on my part.

Academically, there is no doubt that grad school has been transformative. I arrived at the beach of learning as a bright-eyed scholastic neophyte, and venturing toe-deep into the water, immediately experienced a storm. Brilliant classmates, hard courses, unseasoned math skills. It added up to a personal nor’easter.

Given the inauspicious beginning, I probably had little confidence that I could see the program through for a PhD. My working strategy, anyway, was to get a Master’s degree and then reevaluate. When decision time came, I chose to ride the academic wave as far as it would take me and somehow the swell was large enough to sweep me past the major hazards: courses, qualifying exams, comprehensives.

Once I made it to the open sea, where it was not only acceptable but necessary to plumb the academic depths of a chosen research topic, things turned exhilarating. I found thesis advisors well-suited to my interests and aptitude, and at some point I wasn’t clinging to survival in the open sea on a dilapidated life-boat, but using the stiff winds to my advantage and sailing in a handsome schooner.

I found that I loved the research process because it allowed me to become immersed in a particular problem. I’d think about it during the day, then while I was walking to my car. I’d think about it in the shower, on the bus, and even when I was at home with my family (I fight that one). I’d think about it so much that I felt I actually might be able to contribute something to it that no one else had. Working like this on a few problems, and making some progress, has increased my confidence enormously.

I love research for the moments of insight, when I feel something click together in my mind.

God has surely been behind this stomach-turning ocean voyage. “He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.” (Colossians 1:17, NIV). All things work together for good to them that love God (Romans 8:28). “Good” for me has meant successfully navigating this program, and coming to enjoy it immensely.

I didn’t think too much of the uproar fomented by the conservative right excoriating President Obama for speaking to schoolchildren. But on the other hand, I have similar feelings about the left basically trumping up blanket charges of racism toward those that are protesting the administration’s policies.

No doubt there are some misguided souls who actually do have a beef with the president because he’s black. But to insinuate that the movement as a whole is racially-tinged is puzzling, unnecessary, and unhelpful.

This article by Robert Patterson argues that traditional marriage is the most economically productive family arrangement because of the sharp division of labor which exists between the man and woman: The man works mostly to be productive outside the home and the woman works almost exclusively within it.  This balances the need to produce economically for the good of the family unit with the need to propogate and nurture which will result in future production and economic advantage for the society. 

This in contrast to homosexual arrangements or even many heterosexual unions in which there is no such distinction. 

Makes sense to me, though this seems more theoretical than based upon empirical evidence.  Of course, this theory supports the Biblical ideal.

In the same article, the author cites some statistics about the state of the traditional family in Scandinavia, where, it seems, more than half of births are to unwed mothers.  If the above theory is true, then I would expect such countries to be poor, yet when I look at per capita GDP it seems as if most Scandinavian countries are in the top 10%.
 
It reminds me of another article I read sometime back which refers to the peacefulness and happiness of these Scandinavian countries.  This was unexpected because I have been programmed to view socialism as an unsustainable, unjust societal structure.  Perhaps a level of socialism can in fact produce a functioning, prosperous, and happy society.

To me, being responsible means doing what I’m supposed to do.  Keeping appointments, getting the oil changed regularly, paying bills on time, locking the door before we go to bed at night.

But what about when doing the responsible thing requires a relentlessness of the mind and a doggedness of the will?  In other words, what about when responsibility borders upon obsession?

I think I fairly often walk up to this line, and occasionally cross it.

A pet peeve of mine is when, in a public setting, Person A addresses a question to Person B and a nearby Person C attempts to provide an answer, preempting Person B’s right to reply.

Say someone is presenting their statistical research in a seminar and a hand goes up.  A member of the audience doesn’t understand something and asks a question about it.  But the questioner’s buddy sitting next to him thinks he knows the answer.  So while the presenter stands up front looking on and maybe even trying to answer, the buddy quietly (so no one else can hear) imparts his wisdom to the inquirer.

See the problem?  It puts the questioner in a difficult spot.  He asked the question of the speaker, yet if he looks to him for the answer he will be rudely ignoring his buddy who is speaking directly to him.

Another place this comes up is in a choir rehearsal.  Perhaps you ask a question of the director and the person sitting beside you might immediately know the answer because the director answered it 10 minutes before but you weren’t paying attention.  Same thing, pretty much.

It is interesting how you do your pet peeves, because I was once sitting in a choir and a fellow tenor asked a question whose answer was just so obvious to me.  So of course I jumped in and tried to answer the question.

In many academic positions, a prerequisite to success is the prolific procurement of funds from outside funding agencies.  In my view it’s a somewhat dreary business because it involves paperwork and inevitably diverts energy from actual research, instead requiring much effort expended in support of proposing research. But if you are in chemistry and your work requires expensive equipment, what can you do?

Statistics is not quite as dependent upon such funding as many science and engineering disciplines, because statistical research is relatively inexpensive to conduct.  However, pressure to bring in money still exists and if you are a young researcher, a successful grant proposal seems to be a definite feather in the tenure cap.

I currently exist in the academy, yet I am a student not an academic.  Still, I have been touched by this funding model since wouldn’t it be nice if I could quit working as a teaching or research assistant during my last year and get a pay raise to boot?

So this last spring I spent quite a bit of time customizing my curriculum vitae, writing this essay and that compressed dissertation proposal, tweaking an abstract here and filling out an application form there.  The complete results of my labors aren’t in, but while I’m not batting 1.000, it has paid off.