So, it's after the funeral and I'm chatting with some of my husband's cousins. One is a really nice guy who got his PhD and now teaches out west somewhere in a tenure-track position. It's a big deal for him. The other is this beady-eyed only child moron intellect who could not communicate his way out of a paper bag unless it had the instructions based upon the Rosetta Stone code scribbled on the inside. I never really liked this guy because I suspect he's a fraud. A big fat fraud that isn't as smart as he thinks he is.
The nice cousin and I were talking about classes and teaching. Really nice guy. The other one...well, he just talks to hear himself and forget what YOU have to say.
As they are leaving, my husband makes a comment to nice guy, "Great see you, buddy or should we say, Professor?"
I proudldy chimed in "He has a PhD! It should be Doctor!"
Social moron guy mumbles, "Well, actually, in academia, a professor is more impressive than a doctorate."
I looked at this guy as if he had three heads. What the hell is he talking about? I'm a f'ing professor and I don't have my doctorate. I once got lashed out at by the Vice President b/c someone teasingly called me Dr. Blahblahblah (and I had nothing to do with it).
What pisses me off is that the moron cousin obviously is so stupid that he doesn't even realize that he's stupid. But he also thinks that I'M stupid just because I exist. He doesn't even bother to find out what I do or don't know.
Later on, we all sat around the table b.s.ing and my two sister-in-laws were commenting how smart this guy is and how he's on a different plain. My husband (bless him!) made a few comments back that he's not really that smart just because he specializes in one niche and he doesn't know how to communicate with people unless it's about that niche. APPLAUSE APPLAUSE! I really wanted to slap those people who allowed this jerky "intellect" into bullying them into feeling stupid. I was proud of my husband for actually saying that to my one sister-in-law. Of course, he was half drunk and when I tried to talk to him later about it, he passed out so I didn't get to have an in-depth discussion.
Why do people who think they are so smart get off by trying to make other people feel stupid? That bothers me. I consider myself fairly intelligent (hell, I graduated college when I was 20 and had my masters by 22!). But I don't glory in dumb-ifying other people. In fact, I'm intrigued more by with other people have to say than what I think I know. Maybe I'm onto something. Maybe I'm smarter because I don't want to talk but to listen. It's the talkers who only care about spreading their own knowledge without acquiring more since they think they know everything. In fact, I get mad when my husband pushes me into debates on topics that I know a lot about (such as religion or politics in Middle East...personal knowledge pursuits of mine). My mother does this, too, when I'm with her best friend's husband drinks too much and starts spewing off ridiculous Scripture. I'll play a little bit if he's being really obnoxious because I'm fairly well-versed on both Old and New Testament. But I actually try to keep that a secret. No one else cares. They have their own opinions, and about topics like religion and politics, they usually don't want to hear mine.
Long rant...sorry. But that guy ticked me off. Give the PhD the credit and accoldates. That's hard work. And to pretend that being called "professor" is better than being called "doctor"? COME ON! That was a ridiculously stupid thing for this supposedly 'genius' to say.
[Of course, I now risk exposing my own ignorance when twenty people comment that I'm wrong but, if so, I will apologize to Chip the Dip Cousin. ]
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3 comments:
Well, the fact that you're a professor and not a ph.d. does actually demonstrate
that professor trumps ph.d. ... I am both, but where I come from, professors who insist on being called Dr., because they hold the Ph.D., are considered tacky. Insisting on being called Dr. means you come from a school where Ph.
D.'s are few, and those who have them showcase them to be pompous and pull rank. If you are a Ph.D. and a professor, and you've been a professor for any length of time, you should have
accomplished something _beyond_ the Ph.D. by now.
I've noticed that a lot of MDs and JDs think they're 'better' than PhDs, which is, from an academic point of view, ridiculous: of those three doctorates, only the PhD is a research degree, and it is the most advanced.
I've also noticed that a lot of MFA's think they're 'inferior' to PhDs and are very touchy about it. I think they should get over it: they have the most advanced degree available in their field, and they're often as well or better published than their PhD colleagues. I have never heard a PhD speak badly of an MFA in terms of intellect, training, etc., but I have often heard MFA's _claim_ that PhD's look down on them. I am really not sure where they heard this.
Cuz sounds like an A**hole, but... he does have a point. Perhaps it differs by field, but in the job title hierarchy I'm familiar with, "professor" is reserved for tenure track faculty positions, for which having a Ph.D. is necessary, but by no means sufficient. For example, fresh Ph.D.s in my field have a hard time finding tenure-track positions, so typically become "postdocs" for 2-3 years to gain research experience. If lucky enough to get a position after that, it is the entry-level "Assistant Professor" position. After 4-6 more years, they might get promoted to "Associate Professor" level, and after 4-6 MORE years may finally get promoted to "Full Professor", also simply known as "Professor". Although I got my Ph.D. 10 years ago, I'm still working my way up the ladder to "Professor".
I am far more pleased when a student calls me "professor XYZ" instead of "Dr XYZ". And my name isn't even XYZ!
In the UK and Australia, Professor is higher than Doctor, as it refers to someone who is a department chair or has a special high position in the department. It's weird for American students who come to the UK, because we're used to calling people "Professor" by default. (It turns out that most prefer to go by their first names only, so you don't have to worry about whether or not someone has a PhD!)
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