Reply to How are kids supposed to address professors? Dr., Professor, first name? Daughter got rude reaction

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Not OP and haven't read the thread.

Personally I think honorifics should be done away with entirely. I don't think doctors should insist on Dr. I don't think professors should be Prof. I think the use of honorifics perpetuates power imbalances that on the whole aren't good. Let everyone go by first name. And yes, I have honorifics I could use but I don't.

An adult insisting another adult use a title is just cringeworthy behavior to me. [/quote]

I respect your opinion.  Would you consider reading the NYT article linked in this thread to see if any of the issues outlined there might, in your opinion, warrant an exception?  [/quote]

I will find it and read it.

[b]Mostly I find the insistence on honorifics to be the vestiges of a racist and misogynistic history in which those honorifics were used as a way of keeping people who deserved it on their merits out of power. [/b]

You want respect? Earn it based on your behavior, not by insisting another adult address you with a title.[/quote]
I am a woman of color, PhD holder, and professor and you could not be more off base here. 
[/quote]

Nope. I've been in the trenches myself and I completely disagree with you.[/quote]

DP, I agree with the professor PP.  The NYT article also noted that professors with doctoral degrees who are younger, minority, and/or female are more likely to be referred to by their first names.  Anecdotally, I’ve found this to be true among my academic colleagues who’ve mentioned this issue.[/quote]

The solution is to not use title at all, not to insist other adults use it.

I do make an exception in the military. But beyond that, no.  [/quote]

Why does the military get an exception?[/quote]

I am the PP who wrote about the military exception. I haven't posted since then, so anything intervening is not me. I make exceptions for the military because in the military, title is not just an honorific but a way of making the organization function, most critically in life-critical roles. In other words, there is a collapsing of the title and job function in a way that makes the system operable, and has impact on life or death situations. Thinking about it, I can think of a few different scenarios where that could be the case: for instance, I could see a rational need to use formal titles in a surgical operating theater, or an emergency room. But certainly not in a college classroom, where it's really just about professorial ego.

I also wonder to an extent if this is geographic in nature. I am in California and I don't run into this insistence on titles often. My doctors, for instance, will often use first names ("Hi, I am John Smith.") I find people who insist on titles from grown adults in non-life-critical situations to be off-putting. Luckily I don't run into it often.  And yes, I call people what they want to be called. I just find the insistence on it to be a bit ridiculous and over the top.

[/quote]

How about clergy?[/quote]

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