Fear the nerd with an ego.
The self-perceived importance of a tenured professor manifests itself most vividly in the teacher-graduate student relationship.
Behold Professor Ackart, a former lecturer of mine. He is in his early 40’s, less than average height. A dark cranberry shirt is neatly tucked into black pants held around a small waist by a stylish belt.
Steve is tall, dark, and if your aesthetic standards have been shaped by years of studying science, maybe even handsome. Angular features and wire-rimmed glasses make him a Clark Kent.
Steve is at attention with a stack of slides in his hands. Our professor is standing just out of reach of the projector.
“Steve – can you put up the NMR slide?”
“Right, now just move it – no, down Steve. Move the slide down. – Too far.”
*whip cracks*
“Now Steve, I’m going to need you to show them the – right, the one on aromatic compounds, and then quickly Steve, switch to the one just below. Perfect.”
Steve obliges submissively.
Really, the mantra of all graduate students is, “Thank you sir, may I have another.”
We seek out advisors will squeeze blood from a stone and who won’t say something is good enough when it doesn’t even meet our self-inflicted standards.
Listen to a grad student complain about the time they spend in lab and it’ll quickly become clear that there’s nowhere they’d rather spend their Saturday night. But the domineering advisor is the only socially acceptable excuse.
No comments:
Post a Comment