What are the minimum requirements to call yourself a scholar or scientist?

An oversized ego is all you need.

I have known ‘perpetual students’ without any degree at all, that call themselves ‘scholars’. My teenage grandson calls himself a scientist.

“scholar” is a word that someone uses to describe you. It’s not a word you would use to describe yourself. “Hi, I’m John, I’m a scholar. What do you do?” would be a really pretentious way to introduce yourself.

There are no “minimum” requirements. You call yourself whatever you want.

I’m a current Ph.D student (in the humanities); you tell me when I can call myself that without seeming like a douche ;)

“Scholar” can simply refer to any student, so it wouldn’t necessarily be a description of one’s profession.

“Scientist”, on the other hand, seems more a professional description; if you work in a lab and conduct scientific research, you can call yourself a scientist without seeming pretentious. Though usually people are a bit more specific as to what type of scientist they are.

As the expense and struggle to acquire a degree grows ever more crippling, the overall practical utility of the document plummets in a world glutted with the things. My Brother in law shocked me with the revelation that the salary for an adjunct professor with a Ph.D in physics hovers in the range of 40 grand at top notch universities.

I regard “scholar” as one of those descriptors that are conferred by others and not assumed for oneself. It’s more than just a label or an earned degree; it expresses honor and respect.

Others that I see as similar include hero, saint, philosopher, sage, artist, holy man or woman, and wise man or woman. A person might say “I’m a soldier,” for instance, but I don’t expect him to say of himself “I’m a hero.” If she tells me “I’m a painter,” that’s fine, because she’s just telling me what she does; but if she says “I’m an artist,” I think she’s making an immodest evaluation of the quality of her own work.

The contempt for education on the right is fun to watch. And eventually, probably not in my lifetime, will result in WalMarts in India selling t-shirts made in the United States for a dollar.