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Oh boy. I get to tell a story that I've wanted to tell to HN forever. I grew up in no-where America, population 1,000, 100 miles from the nearest city of 10,000
by earthscienceman 5y ago
Oh boy. I get to tell a story that I've wanted to tell to HN forever. I grew up in no-where America, population 1,000, 100 miles from the nearest city of 10,000.
One day in High School a new teacher is hired in a quick hurry to replace someone who quit. The man shows up to teach biology wearing a NASA jacket and spends the entire first hour of class explaining all of the work he has done for the agency. He also insists we call him, "Dr. J, because I have enough class credits to have a PhD".
The story could be 100 paragraphs of weird twists and turns, but the short of it is that the guy was a total fraud and had only once volunteered for a citizen science project. One of the things about rural schools is that they're often desperate for teachers, so he got to hang around "teaching" biology until he threatened to shoot some kids and he was finally fired.
- miohtama 5y agoFake it until you make it. Gosh, maybe I have seen this somewhere else too.
- nkrisc 5y agoI mean if you count teaching high school in a town of 1,000 people in the middle of nowhere "making it" then yes, I suppose so.
- throwawaylinux 5y agoWhat's wrong with teaching high school? In a (presumably) less-advantaged area? What do you count as making it?
- weird-eye-issue 5y agoNot that
- boomboomsubban 5y agoThe person likely had unachieved dreams of actually earning a PhD and working at NASA, so I doubt they'd describe working for a pittance in a rural high school as "making it" either.
- kortilla 5y agoNothing. There is just no competition to be able to do so. You definitely don’t need to fake anything about nasa to get a job there either.
- nkrisc 5y agoNothing wrong with it. I just don’t think it is what most people would call “making it.” I personally consider “making it” being happy with what you’re doing, even if most other people wouldn't consider it "making it." But if you're someone who goes through the effort to lie about working for NASA and all that, I'm guessing this wasn't their idea of making it.
- mcguire 5y ago"Dr. J, because I have enough class credits to have a PhD" Oh, if only it were that easy....
- aspaceman 5y agoMy unwritten dissertation is also giving me a look from the corner of the Desktop.
- goodcanadian 5y agoMy wife gets pissed off by the "all but thesis" crowd. The thesis is about 80% of the work!
- cheese_van 5y agoAs to "threatened to shoot some kids," I say, in honor of the great Norm MacDonald, there's two sides to every story.
- earthscienceman 5y agoI mean, I'll give you (and Norm) some credit here. Hick kids are brutal if they smell you're a fraud. Let's just say the kids were not kind to Dr. J. They loved to push his mental limits, that were pretty flimsy from the start.
- drcongo 5y agoI prefer film producer Bob Evans version - "There's three sides to every story, your side, my side and the truth". The book about him, The Kid Stays in the Picture, is one hell of a ride.
- 271828182846 5y agoI'm skeptical of anybody trying to guide attention to their PhD even if properly acquired. I'm currently working with such a guy - he's the pest.
- trcollinson 5y agoI have a wonderful colleague who has a PhD in mathematics and never tells anyone about it. I sort of love calling him Dr. just to push his buttons because he is the opposite of a person who guides others attention to his work. He often deserves so much more credit.
- mobilemidget 5y agoCrazy read. But should one not be in jail for threatening to shoot kids vs getting fired?