Colage:

I think the issue with saying "I teach at XYZ College/University" is that it is more or less implying that you're a professor there, or at least that your primary reason for being around the campus - not that you teach the 101 courses as part of a graduate program requirement (or extra money, or whatever have you).

But, at the same time, calling one's spouse out on it is a little messed up. What exactly do you lose if people think he's part of the elbow-patch crowd?

The problem is that most people don't understand that there is a difference between being teacher, a full professor, and a TA. "Lay people" might think a teacher is a teacher is a teacher.

My husband, a grad student, sometimes avoids these questions by saying he works for the University. So very quickly people who are just making conversation end their questioning, satisfied in getting an answer. Or he can go on to say that is a grad student or that he TA's classes and next semester he is teaching a class. Just like the top poster said he is writing the syllabus, needs to make sure the test is written, teaches the class etc. A TA might be allowed to imput questions for an exam or a suggestion on what material to cover but it is the job of the Teacher/Professor to be the final say in everything for the class.

The wife also said that they don't even teach at the same school so it can be different from one to the next what might be expected of the grad students. If all the other students at the husband's university refer to themselves as teachers he might just be following along with the group.

I can't see this marriage lasting a long time if she puts him down in public...