One time during an interview for an online ESL teaching job, I was told to market myself as an expert so that students would want to take my classes.
Now, I understand that the internet is full of false advertising…people pretending to be more than they are…so there’s pressure to play along with the game in order to compete with all the self-proclaimed superstars out there. Yet although I have over a decade of experience teaching, tutoring, and writing, I still don’t feel comfortable thinking of myself as any sort of expert. Though I’ve written on a daily basis since childhood — journal and blog entries, stories, poetry, you name it — I don’t know if I will ever feel as if I’ve truly mastered the art of writing.
But I guess in the era of influencers, people aren’t interested in fellow laborers — those with significant experience in a craft, but mere mortals nonetheless. No, only expert opinions matter.
Describing myself in such a way feels pretentious, though, so I avoid using labels like that.
Sophisticated Innocence 