35
The question has several possible answers. The right one depends e.g. on the country, the region, the university, the field, as well as the research group and the 'culture' promoted there. The answers you can expect here will therefore be mostly based on specific examples and cannot be regarded as universal.
I for instance want my PhD students to take ...
18
This might be location dependent. In Germany, doctoral students take vacations in the same way as employees in a company would do. That is, they are allowed 30 days a year of vacation, and they do take them without problems.
Threatening doctoral students with consequences (bad evaluation or otherwise) if they exercise their right to take vacation is seen as ...
14
Henri Poincare, while on vacation:
At the moment when I put my foot on the step, the idea came to me,
without anything in my former thoughts seeming to have paved the way
for it, that the transformations I had used to define the Fuchsian
functions were identical with those of non-Euclidian geometry. I did
not verify the idea; I should not have had ...
7
This will, of course, vary with advisors. Some are hard driving, looking down on what they consider slacking. Others are more humane, realizing that an occasional break from routine can be invigorating. A wise student takes short breaks fairly frequently and longer breaks aren't necessarily a detriment to good research.
In fact, a period of rest, even a ...
5
Views on vacation vary widely depending on the adviser/department. However, here is an anecdote to illustrate how hostile some labs can be to vacation.
I had a friend who needed to take a break from graduate school because she needed to be hospitalized. Her adviser knew where she went and why, and that her need for hospitalization was at least contributed ...
3
Is it unethical? Yes.
Is it worse than the alternative (usually canceling class)? Probably only slightly.
Is it worth reporting? Only if it happens repeatedly.
2
There is no harm in informing the hiring committee that your significant other is applying. Even better if you can do so informally (and it is better coming from you than from your partner).
Most academics can relate to the plights of the 2-body problem, and resolving it for its employees benefits the department (e.g. it increases the chances of retaining ...
2
I generally agree with the rest of the answers, but there's an important point I think needs to be explicitly discussed: PhD students are legally entitled to time off. I can only speak for the few PhD programs I'm familiar with (mostly in the UK), but I'd be highly surprised and disappointed if that weren't the case in most universities.
Of course some ...
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