The "Oooo, he's a PhD Effect"

Discussion in 'General Distance Learning Discussions' started by SurfDoctor, May 30, 2010.

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  1. SurfDoctor

    SurfDoctor Moderator

    There is something remarkable happening where I work. I have been attempting to keep the fact under wraps that I am working on a PhD but someone asked me directly and I could not flat out lie. So the word got out and spread. Now people are beginning to treat me differently; more respectfully, the boss is now noticing all I do and people are asking my opinion. The funny thing is that I have only completed two classes, so there's really no reason to treat me differently. It's all really rather silly, but I can't say I'm not enjoying it. So I'm going to call it the the "Oooo, he's a PhD" effect. Anyone else experienced that?
     
    Last edited by a moderator: May 30, 2010
  2. b4cz28

    b4cz28 Active Member

    No but it must be nice... : (

    Right now all I want is the Oooo, he's got a AS effect, and then Oooo, he's got a BS...lol Although I'm sure I won't get that. But people should be showing your some respect, your a 1%'er
     
    Last edited by a moderator: May 30, 2010
  3. SurfDoctor

    SurfDoctor Moderator

    Yea, but that's a worthy goal and one to be proud of. Keep it up and you will do it! :) My daughter is just finishing up her AA degree and I couldn't be more proud of her!
     
    Last edited by a moderator: May 30, 2010
  4. b4cz28

    b4cz28 Active Member

    It seems that it's always the money holding me back. I have finished two semesters at PF and have to stop. Now I need the money to pay them off and then I can move on to semester number 3!

    If you feel like kicking in donate below!

    (sorry, non-working HTML removed...)
     
    Last edited by a moderator: May 30, 2010
  5. b4cz28

    b4cz28 Active Member

    Tech Support

    Well the paypal button did not work, any tech guy's on today? I need to get that button working, I want to take some more classes.:cool:
     
  6. Chip

    Chip Administrator

    HTML is turned off on the forums for security reasons... sorry...
     
  7. TEKMAN

    TEKMAN Semper Fi!

    No experience as of yet, but hope to be soon when I start my Ph.D.
     
  8. b4cz28

    b4cz28 Active Member

    Sorry for jacking your thread.....
    [​IMG]
     
  9. scubasteveiu

    scubasteveiu New Member

    Interesting. What do you do for a living?

    My boss and his boss know I am work on my DSc, but not many others. I am not expecting much change as our group already drives a lot of security related decisions.



     
  10. SurfDoctor

    SurfDoctor Moderator

    I'm a Jr. high school teacher. So I suppose a PhD in that venue is kinda rare. Except for a few principals
     
  11. SurfDoctor

    SurfDoctor Moderator

    That's OK, I'll try to hijack it back. :)
     
  12. scubasteveiu

    scubasteveiu New Member

    We had a couple school administrators with their PhDs, but that was it.
     
  13. SurfDoctor

    SurfDoctor Moderator

    Yea, money is such an issue. Do you get a degree and go into debt? Or, do you skip the degree and avoid the debt? Hard question, nobody knows what will work best for you.
     
  14. SurfDoctor

    SurfDoctor Moderator

    I might want to be an administrator someday, you never know. The doctorate degree does open that door a little wider. Although I can see no use for a doctorate as a principal, it's a job mostly done with experience in the teaching industry. The degree is just an expensive piece of paper, but it changes people's attitudes about you.
     
  15. Rich Douglas

    Rich Douglas Well-Known Member

    People react to the doctorate in ways not like degrees at other levels. I wonder how much of it is due to the rareness of it (fewer than 1% of workers have them; they're very concentrated, making it an even rarer event in the regular workforce), and how much is due to the title "doctor." But here's my thing:

    I don't make a big deal of it. It doesn't say "Dr." or "Ph.D." on my office's nameplate. I don't refer to myself as "Dr.," and I dissuade others from doing so, preferring they call me by my first name.

    The other thing: if someone has a hang-up about me being a doctor, that's his/her problem, not mine. And, frankly, I don't want to work around people who are that insecure, so I tend not to. Again, I don't make it a big deal; I can do without others who do.
     
  16. b4cz28

    b4cz28 Active Member



    Looks like I might be going to Zimbabwe Open University after all. A degree for five hundred is sounding good..lol
     
  17. SurfDoctor

    SurfDoctor Moderator

    I agree with you on all points but one: I'm rather enjoying the deferential treatment even though it's undeserved. Does that make me insecure? Well of course it does! No big surprise there! :)
     
  18. Maniac Craniac

    Maniac Craniac Moderator Staff Member

    It is a pet peeve of mine that some people say "He is an MBA/Ph.D/etc." If I had such a degree, I would hate it even more... I'm not an individual, I AM my degree?!?! ick... was I nothing before?
     
  19. Rich Douglas

    Rich Douglas Well-Known Member

    Except that the usage you describe is actually correct. Personally, I am both a Master of Business Administration and a Doctor of Philosophy. Those are titles bestowed upon me and, thus, are accurate ways to refer to me. And when the issue crops up in conversation, I normally say "I'm a...." instead of "I have a...."
     
  20. racechick8293

    racechick8293 New Member

    This is from the cynic in me, but after it was known that I was working on my doctorate (while teaching high school), I started getting the feeling like administration started viewiing me differently, as in knowing that I was not likely to keep on teaching high school, so I became a good person to start dumping undesirable classes/duties onto. Also, they offered tuition reimbursement for 12 credits per year, with no cap on the dollar amount, so in the small, fairly rural district I was teaching in, looking back, I believe that utilizing the benefit (about $8k/year) may have also not sat well with them, especially as unbelievably, very few others took advantage of it.

    Hopefully the place you're working at has a more enlightened set of administrators than the rural, backwards mentality district I was teaching in.
     

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