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Miss Manners writes that in academia, Ph.D.s are like noses. You only notice if someone doesn't have one.
by bravura 17y ago
Miss Manners writes that in academia, Ph.D.s are like noses. You only notice if someone doesn't have one.
- yummyfajitas 17y agoThis might not be true in the humanities. I've had quite a few students repeat the idea that they must call be "Dr.", since the title "Professor" is reserved for lowly grad students. They tend to hear this from literature professors, so non-science fields might have different customs.
- scott_s 17y agoIf someone is calling grad students "Professor," then they are abusing the term. A grad student who is teaching is an instructor. Something that I didn't appreciate until I was in grad school was that not all professors are even "Professor." Becoming a full professor is a big deal. An "Assistant Professor" is generally someone who has a tenure-track position, but does not have tenure yet. "Associate Professor" is for someone who has tenure. "Professor" is for someone who has tenure, and has contributed enough to the school through research and teaching to earn being a full professor.
- yummyfajitas 17y agoThe person teaching the class can be legitimately called "professor". It signifies their position as "that guy teaching the class", not their academic rank. Similarly, "that guy commanding the ship" is called "captain" regardless of actual rank [1].
- scott_s 17y agoI just checked the dictionary and Wikipedia. While both allow for "that guy teaching the class" to be considered a professor, that doesn't seem to be the standard custom. Both stressed the formality of the title, which is the custom I'm familiar with.