Academic degrees can be regarded as titles. They designate a person ranked in some field or specialization. The MFA is said to be a "professional" degree, designating the holder as a professional artist. But no one can claim standards to demonstrate any particular traits that are professional other than the degree itself. There are no skill sets or talents or anything that are universal to those who claim to be artists. wc
----- Original Message ---- From: "[email protected]" <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Thu, March 11, 2010 11:56:08 AM Subject: Re: Physician, heal thyself In a message dated 3/11/10 12:10:35 PM, [email protected] writes: > I'm sure people do give themselves titles but historically titles had to > be conferred, deservedly or not. > Yes, that seems true about institutionalized titles. But titles like 'artist', 'poet', 'dancer', even 'athlete' or 'patriot' and others are often self-conferred. They are honorifics chosen by the speaker to honor something about himself: "I'm a poet, Dad!"
