HomeAsia-Pacific Social Science Reviewvol. 15 no. 2 (2015)

On the Transmission of Tacit Skills in Science: Notes on and Observations of Japanese Doctoral Science Research Training Laboratories

Marcus Antonius Ynalvez | Yoshinori Kamo | Noriko Hara | Ruby Ynalvez

 

Abstract:

The first author (M) grew up in a community adjacent to the University of the Philippines at Los Baños (home to the International Rice Research Institute that pioneered the Green Revolution in Asia) where attributions of deference, prestige, high status, and success were strongly tied to one’s academic degrees. Such attributions were also tied to the places from which these degrees [e.g. Australia, Germany, Japan, United Kingdom, and United States (U.S.)] were obtained. There, it was not unusual to hear about neighbors going abroad, not for leisure or vacation though, but for doctoral science training. Celebrated and popular destinations were—and still are—universities in Australia, Japan, and the U.S.