Another reason I love this list is the rabbit trails. Those come because of
a common human characteristic, myself included, that we tend to see what we
either want to see or the writer does not make them selves clear.

My point about degrees and titles was-

     Titles mean nothing other than shields to hide behind, especially in
science and too often in other fields.

It is when individuals promote the title to suppress dissent or get their
way that they are hiding behind a shield. Their actions and words should do
all the speaking. In the academic world it can be condescension or
dismissal of those who either hold a lesser degree or none at all. In the
military it is "leadership by rank" and not by example.

There are some great Admirals and phds, but there are really poor Admirals
and phds. All depends on the person not the title.

Serendipitously, I have an mp3 player with a bunch of old radio shows, and
one recent show was the dramatization of the life of Louie Pasture. He was
pilloried and dismissed because he was not a medical doctor. Fits my point.

Bill Truesdell
Bath, Maine.  .

             ***********************************************
The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software.  For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html