"Similarly, in the American college all regular faculty members called themselves 'Professor'; in England only the select few who held chairs in a university acquired the title, with lesser faculty known as readers and lecturers. In nineteenth-century America, 'Professor' was a grandiose title quickly appropriated by anyone who claimed to make a living at a skill, or according to Bartlett [in Dictionary of Americanisms, 1877], who pretended to 'make a profession of anything.' Barbers called themselves 'Professor,' as did dancing-masters, banjo players, tailors, phrenologists, acrobats, boxers, music-hall piano players, and public teachers of all sorts."
-- The Culture of Professionalism: The Middle Class and the Development of Higher Education in America, Burton J. Bledstein, 1976, p. 20-21.
No comments:
Post a Comment