Jill Biden’s Doctorate Is Garbage Because Her Dissertation Is Garbage

NRO ^ | 16 Dec 2020 | Kyle Smith

[Rummyfan]

You can tell someone is smarting from an inferiority complex when he insists on being addressed as “Dr.” on the basis of holding an academic doctorate rather than being a physician. Ph.D. holders who have genuine accomplishments don’t make you call them “Doctor,” which is why you never hear about “Dr. Paul Krugman” and “Dr. George Will.” None of the professors I knew at Yale, even the ones who were eminent in their fields, insisted on the title, and I think most of them would have scoffed if someone had addressed them as “Dr.” The only reason you ever hear the phrase “Dr. Henry Kissinger” is that Kissy grew up in title-mad, airs-and-graces Germany, where people are awed rather than dismissive even if you insist on a triple-serving title (“Herr Professor Doktor”).

Insisting on being called “Doctor” when you don’t heal people is, among most holders of doctorates, seen as a gauche, silly, cringey ego trip. Consider “Dr.” Jill Biden, who doesn’t even hold a Ph.D. but rather a lesser Ed.D., something of a joke in the academic world. President-elect Joe Biden once explained that his wife sought the degree purely for status reasons: “She said, ‘I was so sick of the mail coming to Sen. and Mrs. Biden. I wanted to get mail addressed to Dr. and Sen. Biden.’ That’s the real reason she got her doctorate,” Joe Biden has said.

[Rummyfan]

My friends, I have read this document in its entirety and it is so equally lacking in rhetorical force, boldness of conception, and original research that it amounts to a triple null set, a vacuum inside a blank inside an abyss. If Ingmar Bergman were alive and hired to make a film about this paper, he would say, “I can’t do it, there’s so much emptiness even I cannot grasp it,” and it would sound so much worse in Swedish that suicide hotlines would have to hire extra staff. Gene Simmons has a better claim to be a Doctor of Love than Jill Biden to be a Doctor of Education; after all, Simmons has spent a lifetime demonstrating mastery of his field. As for Biden, she has spent a lot of time teaching remedial English to slow learners in community colleges. Which is like being a rock musician who’s in a bar band. That plays covers. At mixers. Held in assisted-living facilities. Mrs. Biden’s dissertation emits so much noxious methane the EPA should regulate it, Greta Thunberg should denounce it, and Hollywood celebrities should hold a telethon to draw awareness to its dangers.

[Mr. K]

Okay this is a stupid argument. There are many different types of doctorate. A lawyer is actually a JD (Doctor of jurisprudence). A chemist or physicist is a PhD (Doctor of philosophy) A doctor of education is an EeD.

Get off this topic already. Who cares about Jill Biden.

[PghBaldy]

Her next goal is to become the next “Mrs. Wilson”:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edith_Wilson#Increased_role_after_husband‘s_stroke

[Mathews]

What do you call a doctor with a “C’” average in med school?

Doctor...

[Paradox]

As if we needed another article about this. This article in particular comes across as mean and vindictive. “Dr. Jill Biden” is a joke, everyone knows it, like “Dr. Phil” and Dr. Gorka. Its pointless.

[j.havenfarm]

I hear you, but I think any opportunity to point out the vacuity of these people is fair game. She’s a poseur. BTW, I’ll bet I worked a lot harder for my JD and learned a lot more than she did for her Ed.D, but it’s thought pretentious to use the title doctor for a JD, and universally is t done

[Mr. K]

Or a D average

[cranked]

I wholeheartedly agree with the author’s observation(s) cause I hated it, utterly, when my student’s called me Dr.

[real saxophonist]

...who doesn’t even hold a Ph.D. but rather a lesser Ed.D., something of a joke in the academic world.

I'm not defending anyone named Biden, but this is an insult to my dad who held an Ed.D. He retired as Professor Emeritus, something a whole bunch of Pd.D.s didn't.

[Mr. K]

I keep telling my kids that when I grow up I’m gonna finish my PhD in physics and then I’m gonna MAKE them call me “Doctor daddy”

[maddog55]

A doctor of education is an EeD... short for ED :-) !!

Seems fitting !!

[real saxophonist]

PS - He never cared if anyone addressed him as Doctor or not.

He got his Doctorate back when one had to do actual research, there was no Google in the late '60s.

[CodeToad]

A doctorate in ‘education’ is garbage. Any teacher wanting a real doctorate can get one. The education system created this idiot participation trophy to try to elevate their standing.

[cranked]

Heh. For me, being called Dr was cringeworthy stuff, really dunno why, but yeah....

[CodeToad]

“He retired as Professor Emeritus, something a whole bunch of Pd.D.s didn’t.”

That’s a political appointment, especially for a doctorate in ‘education’. A Professor Emeritus 75 years ago would have been an accomplishment. Today, it means someone who raised enough funds for the school.

[Chengdu54]

I earned my doctorate at a well known prestigious university. On my first day of grad school I was told that “the only ‘doctors’ here are in the hospital.” All professors, even the great names, were addressed as “Mister.”

[camle]

what you think of her dissertation is irrelevant. the institution who awarded the phd to her accepted it as sufficient. you have no voice in the matter. there are many more concrete reasons to criticize the bidens other that this seemingly petty matter.

[Redmen4ever]

People with Doctor of Education degrees are most insistent upon the title “Doctor” because theirs is the weakest doctoral-level degree.

[Don Corleone]

The only ones who call me that are Hillsdale people.

[Slyfox]

Whether she wants to call herself doctor, (I shrug my shoulders), but I looked it over. She had a very weak topic to begin with and she only did about 80 pages of a body. The rest of it was appendix info - that is where you provide info to support your thesis. The appendix is usually supplying information from another person, not plagiarism but still somebody else's work. Half of her dissertation was in her appendix.

What she wrote should have been at least 150 pages of original thesis work.