The PhD System Runs on Shame. Here’s How to Break It

R3ciprocity.com - Prof David Maslach: Innovation; Research Life; Striving Towards Happiness · Dec 3, 2025 · 5m

If you ever do a PhD, there is one feeling that almost never leaves you.

“I am behind.”

“I am slow.”

“I’m not that good.”

And the entire infrastructure seems to reinforce it.

The program.

The tenure system.

Sometimes even your colleagues.

There is this quiet story that you are a mistake. That you shouldn’t be here.

So here is my ask.

Be the broken link in that chain.

The old logic says pressure will fix people. That if you tell them they are behind, they will get motivated. That fear will sharpen them.

That is not how humans work.

When people are told they are a problem, they crack.

They shut…