Changes

== Honorary Degree ==

== Honorary Degree ==

I'm curious about the inclusion of 'Pretending an honorary degree does not give someone the right to be called "Doctor".' in the list. I work in academia and I realize that my sample size is not huge, and that, assuming the institution is accredited, anybody with an honorary doctoral degree can elect to use the title doctor - and figures such as Ben Franklin have. Nevertheless, rolling your eyes at someone who just has an honorary degree but who insists on "doctor" is usually considered the conservative position, rather than the liberal one, and in most cases the honorary degree system at most universities is a bunch of lib hooey anyway, tossing out degrees based on celebrity. While I'm sure that libs love to jump all over the rare conservative honorary degree recipient, discouraging the use of "doctor" by people that haven't really completed a normal course of study is really the conservative take. (I suspect that libs love using "doctor" for honorary degree recipients because they give someone a way to look way more qualified than they really are.)

I'm curious about the inclusion of 'Pretending an honorary degree does not give someone the right to be called "Doctor".' in the list. I work in academia and I realize that my sample size is not huge, and that, assuming the institution is accredited, anybody with an honorary doctoral degree can elect to use the title doctor - and figures such as Ben Franklin have. Nevertheless, rolling your eyes at someone who just has an honorary degree but who insists on "doctor" is usually considered the conservative position, rather than the liberal one, and in most cases the honorary degree system at most universities is a bunch of lib hooey anyway, tossing out degrees based on celebrity. While I'm sure that libs love to jump all over the rare conservative honorary degree recipient, discouraging the use of "doctor" by people that haven't really completed a normal course of study is really the conservative take. (I suspect that libs love using "doctor" for honorary degree recipients because they give someone a way to look way more qualified than they really are.) [[User:DaveB7|DaveB7]] 16:42, 4 July 2009 (EDT)

: I agree. The liberal position would seem to be the reverse of what's in the list - I feel it would be more along the lines of "Though this person has not completed the course of study to 'earn' the degree, this person has shown him/herself to be competent in this field, and is honorarily awarded the title in lieu of this." Of course, it's usually a popularity contest, as you mentioned. [[User:Marlowe|Marlowe]] 15:33, 4 July 2009 (EDT)

: I agree. The liberal position would seem to be the reverse of what's in the list - I feel it would be more along the lines of "Though this person has not completed the course of study to 'earn' the degree, this person has shown him/herself to be competent in this field, and is honorarily awarded the title in lieu of this." Of course, it's usually a popularity contest, as you mentioned. [[User:Marlowe|Marlowe]] 15:33, 4 July 2009 (EDT)

:: I think the history behind that comment is that liberals first stridently objected to my mother receiving an honorary degree (from Washington University), and then stridently objected to a few references to her as "Dr." shortly afterward.  They protesteth too much.  Meanwhile, there are numerous examples of liberals who never earned the rank of full professor, yet called themselves that, and liberals defended it.  See, e.g., [[Obama]].--[[User:Aschlafly|Andy Schlafly]] 15:49, 4 July 2009 (EDT)

:: I think the history behind that comment is that liberals first stridently objected to my mother receiving an honorary degree (from Washington University), and then stridently objected to a few references to her as "Dr." shortly afterward.  They protesteth too much.  Meanwhile, there are numerous examples of liberals who never earned the rank of full professor, yet called themselves that, and liberals defended it.  See, e.g., [[Obama]].--[[User:Aschlafly|Andy Schlafly]] 15:49, 4 July 2009 (EDT)