Menu

Proyecto Visión 21

“So, tell me, what’s your specialization?

Francisco Miraval

I was recently invited to lead a community dialogue about education. The organizer of the event was kind enough to introduce me as “Dr. Miraval.” Almost immediately, one of the participants asked me, “So, please tell me, what’s your specialization?”

“Philosophy and theology,” I said.

“Ah. I thought you were a real doctor,” she said.

“What do you mean ‘a real doctor’?” I was tempted to say. But I said nothing. It was not the time or the place to challenge the old belief that there is only one kind of real doctors (physicians) and others are, well, not real doctors.

I did tell her that if she or somebody else in her family had a medical emergency (God forbid), she shouldn’t call me. Calling a “real” doctor will be the proper course of action. If, however, she or somebody close to her were to experience an existential crisis, then she should call me.

I am sur she didn’t understand what I was trying to say, but that’s OK. After all, she is right: the percentage la Hispanic/Latinos dedicated to Humanities (philosophy, theology, and related fields) is painfully low. And the percentage of Hispanic/Latinos interacting with somebody (Hispanic or not) dedicated to Humanities is even lower.

For that reason, many assume that only physicians are real doctors while other who also earned a doctorate are “not real doctors”, so to speak. And, consequently, we experience a constant challenge of whatever we have studied to the point that we begin to question the validity and credibility of our own title.

In other words, even with your degree hanging on the wall you feel like an impostor. You look both ways because you are sure sooner or later they will discover you are a fraud. (You are not, of course.) You even feel you will never be accepted.

Last April I spoke to a group of college professors about the “impostor syndrome.” More than 50 professors representing so-called “minority groups” shared their own experiences about the daily struggle to get recognition and acceptance. Many of them shared their frustration for not being accepted as a “real” doctor.
Of course, you don’t need to have a doctorate to be told you don’t belong in Academia, as Tiffany Martinez recently exemplified in her blog “Viva Tiffany.” Find her blog and read her column. This is what happened: her professor rejected her academic paper because he couldn’t accept she wrote that paper.

But regardless of what others may assume about our academic ability, shouldn’t we, for the sake of our own community, open ourselves to the possibility of accepting that a growing number of people like as with advanced degrees are not just physicians?

I must say I don’t mind if somebody calls me “Francisco”. After all, that’s my name and “Doctor” is just a degree. What bothers me is people assuming my name and my degree can’t go together. Thanks to Tiffany and many other of her generation that old stereotype is falling apart.

Go Back

Comment

Blog Search

Blog Archive

Comments

There are currently no blog comments.