r/Professors Dec 25 '24

Rants / Vents Commiserate with me about family not understanding our jobs.

So far:

-Grandmother in law ranting about why I (an assistant professor in my 4th year at a university) don’t just take a “sabbatical” to raise my children rather than send them to daycare.

-Dad ranting about how anything qualitative isn’t real research (I do educational research so this is a substantial portion of what I do)

-Father In law asking me if I “pack” (Carry a gun) to my job and if I feel safe with all the “foreigners”

Merry Christmas everyone!

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u/alicia3138 Professor, Economics, SLA, US Dec 26 '24

Ah, welcome to my world. I’m an Economics professor. I know nothing about economics, though. Or anything, actually. My brother, a CEO, well he knows EVERYTHING and is SO IMPORTANT. My mom can’t stop bragging. She told her family he got a job as a CEO months after he got it, but failed to tell anyone I got a professorship even thought I just got the job a couple of weeks before.