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He earned that title, and he was your teacher (a superior), so I don't understand why you were annoyed. Most importantly, it was the first day! Think of an inte
by Cyph0n 10y ago
He earned that title, and he was your teacher (a superior), so I don't understand why you were annoyed. Most importantly, it was the first day! Think of an interview for example: would it be polite to address your interviewer using his/her first name? No, unless the interviewer gives you permission to do so.
Edit: It seems like a lot of HN users have a severe aversion to authority, so I guess I've learned something new today :P
- maxerickson 10y agoteacher (a superior) Because that's stupid. Provisional respect, sure. Continued respect after acting like a buffoon? Nah. Of course, it might be pragmatic to continue the expected ceremonies of respect, but that ain't respect.
- Cyph0n 10y agoHow is asking your students to call you Dr. X on your first day of teaching "acting like a buffoon"? What a strange conclusion man.
- maxerickson 10y agoI'm not necessarily drawing that conclusion. I've certainly had the experience of dealing with poor teachers obsessed with the ceremonies of respect though.
- jrs235 10y agoHe earned the title, not respect. Yes, we should be respectful of everyone, but just because you have a title doesn't mean you can go around demanding to be respected [if you're also being a pompous ass]. Edit: Well, you can go around demanding it but you're delusional if you think people actually respect you.
- Cyph0n 10y agoIt was in a classroom setting on the first day... Of course you don't go around on the street asking people to call you "doctor"!
- jrs235 10y agoFrom the stories I heard, this teacher told his children to call him "doctor"... at home...
- pavel_lishin 10y agoWait, what stories did you hear about the particular teacher I'm talking about?
- jrs235 10y agoI was referring to the teacher mentioned in the article that I submitted that is the parent to your story of your teacher.
- dkersten 10y agoBecause I don't care what qualifications you have. If you want me to respect you and call you by some honorific name, you have to make me respect you enough to do so, otherwise I don't care what some piece of paper says you should be called. I don't call English "knights" Sir either, because fuck that. Note that none of this means I'd be rude, I just wouldn't afford them any more respect than anybody else.
- Cyph0n 10y agoReducing the work and/or contributions required to get a PhD/MD (or other honorific) to a "piece of paper" is very naive in my opinion. But whatever floats your boat, mate.
- jrs235 10y agoThe thing is, I can't tell by a prefix, title, or piece of paper whether you actually put in an effort to obtain any of those things. I should show respect regardless of whether you have them or not. But if someone with any of those demands I treat them in a superior way because they [claim to] have one or more of those they're likely to lose my respect. If you have one of those you still need to put forth the effort to show that they actually mean something.
- Macsenour 10y ago>Note that none of this means I'd be rude Not calling a knight Sir, is rude to THEM. They earned it,they were recognized for their achievement. To not call them Sir is rude.
- bhickey 10y ago> They earned it,they were recognized for their achievement. So what of it? Knighthoods are handed out to political cronies like they're Jaffa Cakes. Besides, I'm not a subject of Her Majesty the Queen, Elizabeth Windsor. Demanding deference to the monarchy is an insult to civil society.
- 10y ago
- pavel_lishin 10y agoSuperior, eh? They were presenting themselves as better than ours; not merely our teacher, but our superior, our better. Not as someone who would instruct and help us. And yes, it was the first day, the first attempt to make a first impression, and that impression was: I am more important than you, and I demand that you all to acknowledge it every day. It was incredibly pompous and tone-deaf.
- Cyph0n 10y agoA teacher is not higher in rank than a student? Why, let's just have students teach each other then :) I'm obviously not familiar with your situation; I definitely agree with you if the teacher was intentionally being pretentious. But if he/she was just correcting students and asking them to call him/her "doctor" on the first day, I think you are overdoing it.
- jrs235 10y agoA teacher has the right to determine who they teach and who they evict from their teachings. But, in a school setting where the student isn't given the same liberty and freedom to choose who teaches them or to not "be under" a certain teacher, the teacher would be wise to operate in a non demanding mode. The teacher in such a situation has more [involuntary] power and control over the student. It would be prudent not to abuse that authority by demanding respect from someone who would rather not be there.
- skybrian 10y agoI have heard that titles are a big deal in Germany but it seems uncommon in the US to use "Doctor" as a title for anyone other than a medical doctor. Many of the people I know at work have PhD's but I've never heard it used.
- Cyph0n 10y agoI'd imagine it isn't used in companies where rank isn't based on education level, but it's very common in academia. For example, it's rude for me as a grad student to just use a professor's first name without using a title.
- skybrian 10y agoYes, in high school, I remember using "Mr", "Mrs" or "Ms". In college I remember referring to professors as "professor." But it seems different for a teacher to put themselves above other teachers at the same school and expecting others to remember that?
- Cyph0n 10y agoI don't see it that way. The request was within the boundaries of the classroom. It would definitely be different if the teacher also expected his/her peers to do the same.
- throwaway729 10y agoThe respect goes both ways. I call people with doctoral degrees "Dr." unless I'm invited otherwise or we're in a non-professional setting. Doctoral degrees usually aren't mere pieces of paper; going out of one's way to diminish the work and sacrifice involved is kind of rude. But I also think it's kind of snooty and ill-mannered to explicitly demand to be called Dr. Like with table manners. It's rude to not be decent to other people at the table. But equally rude to snap at another guest for eating with his mouth open. This example is kind of an in-between on the teacher's part, because socialization is part of education. Only parent knows whether the teacher was motivated by socializing skills or ego. > Edit: It seems like a lot of HN users have a severe aversion to authority, so I guess I've learned something new today As always, the aversion is slightly more nuanced than just authority. You'll find lots of respect for certain other positions of authority (eg CEO). Also, aversion to the hierarchy of schools is nothing unique to HN.
- Cyph0n 10y agoOh yes, I agree completely. But OP's scenario involved a school teacher on his/her first day teaching the class, and so I felt that OP was overreacting. Obviously, demanding that random people call you Dr. is absolutely rude. Well, it's news to me! I never noticed this thinking before, probably because it's not a common topic of discussion on HN.
- matthewmcg 10y agoThis sounds like an application of Postel's maxim[1] to the use of titles. [1] RFC 1122 § 1.2.2: "Be liberal in what you accept, and conservative in what you send"
- jrs235 10y ago>"It seems like a lot of HN users have a severe aversion to authority" I would say a lot of HN users have an aversion to blind submission to authority.