Yes, Women with Doctorates Should Be Called Dr.

Mr. Joseph Epstein – Joey – Grampa Simpson:

I read your recent WSJ op-ed asking Dr. Jill Biden to stop using the title she earned from her doctorate in education. It is rare to read an article that stimulates such attention and widespread agreement from all walks of life.

A bit of advice on what may seem like a small but I think is a not unimportant matter. Any chance you’re wishing you could retract your article? Never mind that it was dripping with misogyny and condescension—your piece left me questioning your ability to form rational thoughts and express them in writing. As a social scientist and teacher, I too try to educate people where I see lapses in judgment and reasoning. To clarify what I think you meant to convey, I’ve rewritten some key sections.

“Dr. Jill Biden” sounds and feels fraudulent, not to say a touch comic.

I don’t know how to make an argument using logic and evidence, so I’m going to scream and stomp my foot. I’m threatened by the professional achievements of women. In the good old days, women were seen and not heard! For decades, intelligent women have made me feel stupid and rejected my romantic advances. Also, I don’t know the meaning of the word fraudulent.

Many real doctors are misogynists like me! In a study of how over 300 MD/PhD presenters were introduced, women introduced speakers as Dr. regardless of their gender. Men introduced most male speakers as Dr. but less than half of female speakers as Dr. Why aren’t all those sexist Dr. Men telling Jill Biden to stop calling herself Dr.?

Your degree is, I believe, an Ed.D., a doctor of education, earned at the University of Delaware through a dissertation with the unpromising title “Student Retention at the Community College Level: Meeting Students’ Needs.”

I’m comfortable dismissing a dissertation as unpromising even though (1) I didn’t bother to read past the title, (2) I’m unqualified to evaluate education research, and (3) I’m unable to articulate why I found it wanting. Also, I belong to the brand of elitism that places no value on community college and the school of neoliberalism that blames only individuals—never institutions—for any and all failures to complete a degree.

A wise man once said that no one should call himself “Dr.” unless he has delivered a child.

In my infinite Man Wisdom, I think neurosurgeons shouldn’t call themselves Dr., and neither should cardiologists or oncologists. However, my reasoning also suggests that every mother who has given birth should be called Dr., and so should partners who have delivered babies in bathtubs, closets, and on highway shoulders.

In contemporary universities, in the social sciences and humanities, calling oneself Dr. is thought bush league.

I stopped being a university lecturer in 2002, so I know nothing about contemporary universities. I’m also clueless about history: I had no idea that teachers were called Dr. before physicians and therefore have the original claim to the title. How could I possibly know that the origin of “doctor” comes from the Latin docēre, to teach?

The prestige of honorary doctorates has declined even further.... Between the honorary degrees given to billionaires, the falsely intelligent, entertainers and the politically correct, just about all honor has been drained from honorary doctorates.

Since I only have an honorary doctorate (not one I actually earned) I’m very upset that it no longer leaves anyone with the mistaken impression that I’m worth listening to.

As for your Ed.D., Madame First Lady, hard-earned though it may have been, please consider stowing it, at least in public, at least for now. Forget the small thrill of being Dr. Jill, and settle for the larger thrill of living for the next four years in the best public housing in the world as First Lady Jill Biden.

Kiddo, if you hadn't wasted your time doing multiple advanced degrees that I couldn't earn, you'd know that a woman’s place is in the home. A real lady subordinates her career to her husband's!

Joseph Epstein, I thank you. In these divided times, you, sir, have united us against a common idiot.

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Adam Grant is an organizational psychologist at Wharton. His forthcoming book is Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know.