Demotivational Posters
The Faculty of Graduate Studies at my university sees fit to adorn each of the rooms used for PhD oral exams with chirpy motivational posters, usually featuring nature scenes–mountain tops, rivers, whales, etc.–extolling the virtues of hard work,big dreams, good habits, and a positive attitude. In December I spend some time in these rooms as part of the rush that we all make to see students through before winter fess are payable. Sometimes I’m chairing (usually when there is a female student with an all male examining committee) and at other times examining. In any case I spend too much time looking at these posters. And don’t get me wrong: I have nothing against nature or positive attitudes. But to me they’ve always seemed more annoying than inspirational, more trite than true. If they work for you, great, but don’t inflict them on others. For some time I’ve wanted to replace them with the anti-motivationalposters,found at this website
and then see how long it would take people to notice.
