16 Year Old CEOs, What Has The World Come To?

Re:16 Year Old CEOs, What Has The World Come To? by yummyfajitas on Tuesday November 03, 2009 @08:48AM (#919230)

This 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.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:16 Year Old CEOs, What Has The World Come To? by scott_s on Tuesday November 03, 2009 @10:19AM (#919424)

If 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.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:16 Year Old CEOs, What Has The World Come To? by yummyfajitas on Tuesday November 03, 2009 @12:54PM (#919833)

The 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].

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:16 Year Old CEOs, What Has The World Come To? by scott_s on Tuesday November 03, 2009 @01:18PM (#919887)

I 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.

[ Parent | on HN ]