Sunday, June 17, 2012

Going back to stereotypes

I saw this on twitter earlier today, and thought I'd post it here, as I have already sort of talked about it.  
Worth another mention: Why the Scientist Stereotype is Bad for Everyone, Especially Kids, , it's by

I do think that a fear of science and scientists hurts everyone, not just scientists like me.   I find it interesting that in this article, the suggestion that scientists need show humanity is made again.  I've heard that before-if you admit your biases people will be more likely to believe you.   And maybe that's true.   Anyone tried it?

Friday, June 1, 2012

Using dr.

I had a discussion at work about titles.  A friend just graduated with her PhD, and made a big point that this was the only time she was going to let us call her Dr.   And that brought up a much larger discussion-when do you use the title?
I generally find it to be "a PhD bomb" at work.  Sometimes that's a good thing-I can't count the number of difficult people that I've had to make understand that yes, I do know what I'm talking about, and yes, you do have to listen.  And other times I just want to say, "no, I'm not secretly judging you.  I don't think I'm smarter than you about your job.  I do want to hear what you have to say."   But I'm interested in hearing other perspectives.