One Acceptable Justification... Maybe
I don't like students calling me "Mr". I don't like them calling me "professor". And I sure don't want them calling me "Dr".
I can't deal with it yet. That's maybe something I have to soon.
Mostly, I hate the way some academics see it as a rubber-stamp on their identity as an intellectual who deserves that social recognition, especially when they are not intellectual and don't know how to live in society.
But I also don't think I need it to maintain authority. I recognize however, that I am a man, built like someone you wouldn't normally choose to fight, with a teaching and writing style that reflects it.
I know female faculty members who insist on being called "Dr". I've always understood a big reason why. I found this passage in a WSJ article about gender in the election season, confirming as much.
I think that it's a legitimate reason. I despise the Clintons for many reasons -- curruption, cronyism, blind ambition, thirst for power and the utter absence of a guilty conscience, political value system, idealism and one might argue, souls. It is no wonder that they criticized Barack Obama's speeches as "just words," because their words are just words.
But while she, in that partnership, has sold out the poor, the working class, the black, the gay, and the personal friends among us, I think she has consistently met the promise to fight for women's rights.
Unless they're black, gay, or trying to unionize.
No matter. I can see the appeal, and I don't begrudge the position.
The problem is that I've met many women whose sole rationale for supporting her is the symbolism of voting for a woman. They know the flaws, and they're willing to overlook them.
In a piece for Time, Susan Sarandon said this:
That, I just can't get my head around.
I can't deal with it yet. That's maybe something I have to soon.
Mostly, I hate the way some academics see it as a rubber-stamp on their identity as an intellectual who deserves that social recognition, especially when they are not intellectual and don't know how to live in society.
But I also don't think I need it to maintain authority. I recognize however, that I am a man, built like someone you wouldn't normally choose to fight, with a teaching and writing style that reflects it.
I know female faculty members who insist on being called "Dr". I've always understood a big reason why. I found this passage in a WSJ article about gender in the election season, confirming as much.
An hour away in Indiana, Pa., a working-class town, Jill Fiore, who teaches part-time at a local college and has a doctorate in English, says she constantly has to remind students to call her "Dr. Fiore" -- the same way they address male professors -- rather than "Jill" or "Mrs. Fiore."The article described the motivation of women to vote for Hillary Clinton, a person they saw as someone who understood their struggles and who would be an advocate for them.
I think that it's a legitimate reason. I despise the Clintons for many reasons -- curruption, cronyism, blind ambition, thirst for power and the utter absence of a guilty conscience, political value system, idealism and one might argue, souls. It is no wonder that they criticized Barack Obama's speeches as "just words," because their words are just words.
But while she, in that partnership, has sold out the poor, the working class, the black, the gay, and the personal friends among us, I think she has consistently met the promise to fight for women's rights.
Unless they're black, gay, or trying to unionize.
No matter. I can see the appeal, and I don't begrudge the position.
The problem is that I've met many women whose sole rationale for supporting her is the symbolism of voting for a woman. They know the flaws, and they're willing to overlook them.
In a piece for Time, Susan Sarandon said this:
There's absolutely no reason why a woman shouldn't be in that office, but I am not sure about this woman. It's insulting to assume that because you're a woman or a person of color, you would automatically back any woman or person of color. It's a little more complicated.For some, it apparently isn't.
That, I just can't get my head around.
posted by Teach | 10:26 AM
3 Comments:
I'm not altogether sure I understand why it is you don't like to be referred to as Dr. or Professor...Dr. simply refers to the fact that you have a PhD and professor is simply a job title and nothing more...I assume you would prefer students to call you by your first name. However, being not too far from my undergrad days (I'm a grad student now) I remember how uncomfortable I was referring to any of my professors by their first name and always referred to them as Dr. X until explicitly told otherwise (and even then I wasn't fully comfortable with it until graduate school).
Perhaps this is partly due to a cultural difference in the sciences versus liberal arts, but I would have never dared to refer to any of my professors, particularly in the sciences, by their first name as an undergrad.
Just a thought.
Justin,
some days I think that the reason for my hang up is my fear of growing up! Anyway, I understand how an undergraduate might hesitate to use first names. For that matter, I had a fellow grad student who relished using first names of famous professors as a means of pretentious starfucking.
What I'm really annoyed with by is the way in which "Dr's" insist (by not insisting otherwise) on being called such by not just grad students, but the secretaries too! Like, why?
I honestly don't think it's a sciences vs humanities thing. I interned in a lab as an undergrad, and you're around everybody in close quarters for so long, first names were very common.
Thanks for the comment!
Teach,
Thanks for the response...I can certainly see why it's obnoxious to have secretaries refer to one as "Dr."...I guess I haven't come across this too much yet (or I'm not yet cognizant of it in my nascent career)...although, I have to say, I look forward to the day when I can refer to myself as "Funk Dr. J" and actually mean it.
Also, I should have mentioned this in my first post...I enjoy the blog! It's interesting to read the perspective of someone in your position. Thanks!
Justin
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