Wednesday, April 05, 2006

Ph.D.

It takes a lot of work to get a Ph.D. It requires massive amounts of research culminating in a book-length document called a dissertation. I'm not denying that it's hard work and a major commitment.

Some doctors of philosophy require that you always call them "Dr. So-and-so." Ms. or Professor won't do. I had a professor in college who said that she worked hard so she could be called doctor, so that's what we had better call her. I'm not sure I would share her sentiment, but I guess I can understand that someone with a Ph.D. would prefer to be called a doctor rather than a professor.

But this behavior could easily get out of control. Several months ago, I noticed something that prompted a serious roll of the eyes. I was on my way out of town, driving through the east side of Fayetteville (the super nice part), and I saw "John E. Doe*, Ph.D." on a mailbox. What kind of insecurity issues do you have if even your mailman needs to know that you have a Ph.D.? Sometimes I think these academic elites need to remember that we're all just people. Some of us are people who are overly educated and critical of everything. Others of us are people who aren't in loads of debt from getting needless, useless, elitist degrees. :)



*Name changed not to protect the innocent, but because I don't remember it.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Did you have recent run-in with a "doctor" that sparked this pondering?

Anonymous said...

Whatever, I'm totally making everyone call me Master Brown once I'm done with grad school. I mean, I'm already Head Mistress, so I might as well add one more suggestive name to the list.

Leah said...

Haha...no, sarah, no recent run-in. For some reason, I just randomly recalled that memory, and I felt the need to share.