I don’t see Women’s Studies at the bottom of that list and shouldn’t it be? Also, I get a kick out of the teachers who get doctorates in education so they can play principal and get called “Dr” for the world’s easiest PhD.
A great observation. Check out Sowell’s Education In America. He directs some of his harshest criticism toward degrees in education. Of course, PhD’s in that field bellyache about not being paid the same as a PhDs in Physics or Chemistry. Another bete noire of Sir Thomas is Ethnic Studies, particulary in the fields of Black and Hispanic studies. He notes that Asian-Americans don’t get degrees in such nonsense, nor do they have spokesmen like Sharpton and Jackson. They’re too busy getting a Medical Degree or Degree in Engineering.
I was once asked to advise a candidate for a PhD in Education on a statistical method he was using in his dissertation (I had a lot of experience with the method). He was doing it right, so advising him was easy. Basically, he was analyzing the results of a survey. That wouldn't get him a PhD in any of the physical sciences. What really struck me, though, was all the hoops he was being forced to jump through. His proposal for his dissertation was longer than my whole dissertation. I concluded that they were making him do busywork so that he'd value his PhD. "It mist be worth something; look how hard I had towork to get it."
At least where I got my doctorate at the Univ. of Calif., a person getting a doctorate in education didn't get a PhD, they got an EdD. I've heard of a couple other doctorates which sound rather laughable, as well.
It’s not a PhD. It’s an Ed.D. There is apparently a real difference. Like, Doctor of Nursing, Dr of Public Health, Dr of Social Work, they’re doctorates, I guess, but you can get PhDs in most of those fields and they take more hours and more research. Kinda sucks for them.
And, while I’m wound up, PhDs get the shaft all over the place. I think they take more classes, do more research, and have a longer apprenticeship than medical doctors, but people don’t even think of them as being real doctors.