Biden’s is an EdD, not a PhD. The former is a professional degree aimed at improving practice as a professional educator, often a school district superintendent.
It bears little resemblance to the academic -- not professional-- research degree that is the PhD, which often leads to being a university professor.
Both degrees have a worthy place but should not be seen as equal in academic rigor or accomplishment.
Not to belabor the point, but EdD terminal projects (am not sure all American higher eds call them dissertations) are usually quite distinct from PhD dissertations. The latter are usually much longer and, as is appropriate to their topics, more theoretical, with justification of the methods used in the research or study that the dissertation reports.
Thanks, Mark. I didn't realize, obviously, that the EdD was such a different kettle of fish. I thought it was simply another term for a PhD in Education. I've now looked up the distinctions and see that you are right. Still, I stand by my criticisms about the dissertation's very low quality in its research, literature review, justification of methodology, and clarity of writing.
Is a person with an EdD still allowed to call themself a Doctor? Whether they are or not, my bet is 99% of Americans and people outside of the US assume she has studied at the standard PhD level.
I spent five years at Penn working on my PhD. Sitting up all night in the computer lab because that’s how long it took to run any kind of modeling back then (90s). Endless cycles of “I need to read another book”. I am offended by Jill Biden for many reasons - her husband, her celebrated state of frumpy mediocrity, her tragic lower-mid-wittery in general. But her insistence on being called Doctor when she has done absolutely jack fucking shit to earn the title, and then ability to have people run around defending her stolen valor, is repulsive. Earn it first.
I love Janice! The first two individuals I started following online years ago were Janice Fiamengo and Colin Flaherty. Unfortunately, Colin is no longer with us, but he told the truth just like Janice.
I've often been curious at the media's insistence on recognizing certain PhD-holders but not others. There does seem to be a stronger requirement to identify women as "Dr." if they have earned doctorates: Jill Biden, Madeleine Albright, and Condoleeza Rice come to mind. I don't recall ever seeing the press refer to Ben Bernanke, David Petraeus or other male PhDs as Doctor. Henry Kissinger might be the only exception.
While I can't imagine why anyone would argue that someone who holds a doctoral degree from an accredited program should not be entitled to use their title, it is unfortunate that the academy has not ensured a consistent level of rigor across degree programs and from one institution to another. Unfortunately, we seem to be moving in the wrong direction on this issue with an increasing number of programs that confer degrees based on work that lacks merit. It's understandable that the PhD is losing credibility in some people's eyes, and of course, it's quite predictable that feminism would rush to add this skepticism to the long list of phenomena it foolishly characterizes as misogyny.
Milton Friedman and other Ph.D.s at the University of Chicago explicitly eschewed the use of the formal doctor. I guess with his/their massive accomplishments, he/they didn’t need the ego boost.
Acquaintances who had them said the abbreviation Dr. is useful on a driving licence; the police change their attitude and become uncharacteristically respectful when they see that the scruffy hippy dropout they've pulled over for no good reason has a title.
Jill Biden does not have a doctorate and has not earned the title “doctor”. She neither wrote a dissertation nor defended one before a panel of her peers. She wrote a 96 page term paper on the importance of community college in the community. She’s an idiot. And an uncredentialed one. Ed.D. from Delaware Tech. Go Blue Hens.
Is it that difficult to get respect in Delaware, with her last name? Who was going to reject her dissertation and risk a call from Hunter warning that his dad is sitting next to him ....
“Regardless, it certainly fails to justify the praise bestowed on Biden by her many defenders, including former First Lady Michelle Obama, who called Biden “a brilliant woman who has distinguished herself in her profession.””
Apparently, Michelle’s Princeton Senior thesis is a train wreck. Maybe Doc Biden’s is brilliant by comparison.
My husband is reading Michelle Obama's senior undergraduate thesis right now! I have only read about it in Mark Stein's *After America,* in which he quoted fairly extensively from it. Yow. Still, it was written by a young woman just finding her legs as a writer; Biden was 55 years old when she completed her doctorate, having earned three degrees before that!
I haven’t read it; I only heard it was the usual victim pablum and reflected the writing ability for an affirmative action admittance. But I guess your husband will let you know.
When I was writing this thing, I was seized by nervousness near the end, convinced I would make a zillion mistakes as I was criticizing Biden. And it turns out that I have.
You’ve mastered staying cool. You bring me so much hope that we will pass thru our current dark age and again, en masse, once again salute right reason and moral intuition, along with evidence and logic. I recommend you often and wish we could see & hear you in the southern US. Surely you’d like to retire where there’s more sun and no blizzards.
Satire in action. No need to invent anything. This is hilarious. At the two universities I attended, the education department was the laughingstock. When I was a TA at McGill English, I had three edumecation students approach me after class one day and say, "Excuse me? But we're from Educashuuun?" With that quizzical lilt. "So like we don't really have to know all this?" This was after the first or second class. I couldn't help but point out the irony of their position. So we're talking dodos, and this was McGill. I also had a friend back in the 90s who wrote papers for college and unibin students tell me that most of his work came from education students. He even wrote a PhD paper for someone. Given what we know about celebs paying their way through, who knows if Dr. Jill even wrote the paper. Nowadays, you can just get ChatGPT to do it while you watch Bosch.
ChatGPT would have done a much better job--would at least have defined "retention" and discussed the complexities of the problem clearly instead of assuming that whenever a student drops out of college, it is because his or her "needs" weren't being met.
I am still angry over the scurrilous allegations that were made against Joseph Epstein, and the risible encomia to Dr. Jill. Many commentators had the gall to suggest that Epstein, one of the best living English essayists, was jealous of Dr. Jill.
I remember reading a high school exit exam from 1895 and feeling very close to being mentally retarded. Reading this article about Jill Biden makes me feel very close to being Albert Einstein.
Feb 24, 2023·edited Feb 24, 2023Liked by Janice Fiamengo
I have to admit to being rather ignorant of the political goings on in North America. However the desperation to apply superlatives to relatively minor achievements from women is familiar enough. I noticed that "misogyny" was applied in this case and there is here in the UK a growing tendency for "misogyny" to mean what "sexism" meant until recently and "chauvinism" used to mean. In one case "the public" continuing to use the term "fireman" being misogyny , rather than the official term "firefighter". Probably because despite 30 years of initiatives there are almost no firewomen seen, apart from in dramas. How this was an indication "the pubic" had a deep seated hatred of women I don't now. And it is very noticeable that female politicians get a very easy ride here too.
Do you hear an outcry from these same politicians for the gender disparities in the childcare industry, early education or nursing? No, it's a one way street. How about the evil DEI programs that disparage and demean straight white men.
Exactly. Here an RAF officer (female by the way) resigned an whistle blew as it turned out she was told to simply prevent white male applicants taking the application aptitude tests, because the white male applicants tended to do well! At least 160 young men were illegally prevented from completing the process.
"In one case "the public" continuing to use the term "fireman" being misogyny"
"Man" as a prefix or suffix generally comes from the Latin word "manus" which means to or by hand. I've prevented a number of boards of management from formal change to the title "chairman" by asking if they consider "manuscript" to be gendered. Do only men write?
"is promptly beaten into the dust for his temerity"
Love that!
I believe that if the linguistic use of the word "Misogyny" is examined, it will be found that the word is often used to shut down discussions, or examination of issues that need to be examined.
It is a sticky label trying to portray the people who the label is stuck as not worth listening to or even reading.
It is about guilt tripping and shaming. All that tactics that were used against the WSJ.
I truly hope that Tucker Carlson reads this and interviews you. This is excellent! I thought the same years ago but did not have the patience to wade through Biden's sub-par thesis. I found it online and knew it was laughable from the title, but left it at that. Thank you for subjecting yourself to that text on our behalf. Also, I would agree with Epstein's argument. I have a humanities Ph.D. (from a far more distinguished institution than Biden's) but don't presume to give myself the title "Dr." It's usually considered pretentious to do so. I used to work for a politician who signed his letters "Dr. ___" and to be honest I was embarrassed for him. I recall a local newspaper mocking him for that. The partisan attack on Epstein is appalling but unsurprising in this day and age. It's typical of Leftists to misuse race and gender in this way. Thank you for setting the record straight. For now, those deemed guilty by the hivemind are publicly shamed, and some even fired, but I fear a time when running afoul of Big Brother will result in more murderous consequences by the state, as in China. The only way to prevent this, I believe, is for more and more people of good conscience to speak out against this nonsense. Conservatives can no longer afford to be silent. It won't just go away by itself. We went from being a silent majority to a silenced minority. Bad thinking and abuses of power have to be challenged, as you are doing. I truly appreciate all your videos and writings.
Thank you for this, my friend. Mark Roberts, above, pointed out that Jill Biden was actually awarded an EdD rather than a PhD (my bad). But it's a terrible piece of work regardless, and the attack on Epstein was unfounded. Being called 'Doctor' in an academic setting is one thing; it is ludicrous in the public sphere.
I meant to read Biden's dissertation when the flap first developed, but I was doing something else at the time. It was only recently, after discovering Joseph Epstein and realizing that he had been the truth-teller who was so mercilessly attacked--and also hearing Biden called Dr. Biden at a football game--that I decided to bite the bullet.
One way the Woke juggernaut might be halted is when the circular firing squad is fully developed and many who imagined they were immune lose their own scalps.
Biden’s is an EdD, not a PhD. The former is a professional degree aimed at improving practice as a professional educator, often a school district superintendent.
It bears little resemblance to the academic -- not professional-- research degree that is the PhD, which often leads to being a university professor.
Both degrees have a worthy place but should not be seen as equal in academic rigor or accomplishment.
Oh gosh--thanks for this. I didn't realize the distinction was so clear. I'll change the references. Thank you.
Not to belabor the point, but EdD terminal projects (am not sure all American higher eds call them dissertations) are usually quite distinct from PhD dissertations. The latter are usually much longer and, as is appropriate to their topics, more theoretical, with justification of the methods used in the research or study that the dissertation reports.
Thanks, Mark. I didn't realize, obviously, that the EdD was such a different kettle of fish. I thought it was simply another term for a PhD in Education. I've now looked up the distinctions and see that you are right. Still, I stand by my criticisms about the dissertation's very low quality in its research, literature review, justification of methodology, and clarity of writing.
I agree with your critique.
It reinforces your early point about the quality in Education and Gender Studies, the latter largely "advocacy research" without any rigor.
Is a person with an EdD still allowed to call themself a Doctor? Whether they are or not, my bet is 99% of Americans and people outside of the US assume she has studied at the standard PhD level.
Good point! I certainly did.
I spent five years at Penn working on my PhD. Sitting up all night in the computer lab because that’s how long it took to run any kind of modeling back then (90s). Endless cycles of “I need to read another book”. I am offended by Jill Biden for many reasons - her husband, her celebrated state of frumpy mediocrity, her tragic lower-mid-wittery in general. But her insistence on being called Doctor when she has done absolutely jack fucking shit to earn the title, and then ability to have people run around defending her stolen valor, is repulsive. Earn it first.
I love Janice! The first two individuals I started following online years ago were Janice Fiamengo and Colin Flaherty. Unfortunately, Colin is no longer with us, but he told the truth just like Janice.
Doc Fiamengo is performing a national house call and lancing the festering boils of feminism and treating the accompanying hysteria.
Any PHD who insists on being addressed as Dr. is a narcissist, in my experience. Good article.
I've often been curious at the media's insistence on recognizing certain PhD-holders but not others. There does seem to be a stronger requirement to identify women as "Dr." if they have earned doctorates: Jill Biden, Madeleine Albright, and Condoleeza Rice come to mind. I don't recall ever seeing the press refer to Ben Bernanke, David Petraeus or other male PhDs as Doctor. Henry Kissinger might be the only exception.
While I can't imagine why anyone would argue that someone who holds a doctoral degree from an accredited program should not be entitled to use their title, it is unfortunate that the academy has not ensured a consistent level of rigor across degree programs and from one institution to another. Unfortunately, we seem to be moving in the wrong direction on this issue with an increasing number of programs that confer degrees based on work that lacks merit. It's understandable that the PhD is losing credibility in some people's eyes, and of course, it's quite predictable that feminism would rush to add this skepticism to the long list of phenomena it foolishly characterizes as misogyny.
Milton Friedman and other Ph.D.s at the University of Chicago explicitly eschewed the use of the formal doctor. I guess with his/their massive accomplishments, he/they didn’t need the ego boost.
Acquaintances who had them said the abbreviation Dr. is useful on a driving licence; the police change their attitude and become uncharacteristically respectful when they see that the scruffy hippy dropout they've pulled over for no good reason has a title.
Jill Biden does not have a doctorate and has not earned the title “doctor”. She neither wrote a dissertation nor defended one before a panel of her peers. She wrote a 96 page term paper on the importance of community college in the community. She’s an idiot. And an uncredentialed one. Ed.D. from Delaware Tech. Go Blue Hens.
Is it that difficult to get respect in Delaware, with her last name? Who was going to reject her dissertation and risk a call from Hunter warning that his dad is sitting next to him ....
“Regardless, it certainly fails to justify the praise bestowed on Biden by her many defenders, including former First Lady Michelle Obama, who called Biden “a brilliant woman who has distinguished herself in her profession.””
Apparently, Michelle’s Princeton Senior thesis is a train wreck. Maybe Doc Biden’s is brilliant by comparison.
My husband is reading Michelle Obama's senior undergraduate thesis right now! I have only read about it in Mark Stein's *After America,* in which he quoted fairly extensively from it. Yow. Still, it was written by a young woman just finding her legs as a writer; Biden was 55 years old when she completed her doctorate, having earned three degrees before that!
I think 'received three degrees' would be closer to the truth.
I haven’t read it; I only heard it was the usual victim pablum and reflected the writing ability for an affirmative action admittance. But I guess your husband will let you know.
Mark Steyn, it is.
When I was writing this thing, I was seized by nervousness near the end, convinced I would make a zillion mistakes as I was criticizing Biden. And it turns out that I have.
You’ve mastered staying cool. You bring me so much hope that we will pass thru our current dark age and again, en masse, once again salute right reason and moral intuition, along with evidence and logic. I recommend you often and wish we could see & hear you in the southern US. Surely you’d like to retire where there’s more sun and no blizzards.
We all make mistakes. However, when some errors were brought to your attention you acknowledged them immediately and graciously. Thank you.
Michelle Obama also praised Harvey Weinstein.
Satire in action. No need to invent anything. This is hilarious. At the two universities I attended, the education department was the laughingstock. When I was a TA at McGill English, I had three edumecation students approach me after class one day and say, "Excuse me? But we're from Educashuuun?" With that quizzical lilt. "So like we don't really have to know all this?" This was after the first or second class. I couldn't help but point out the irony of their position. So we're talking dodos, and this was McGill. I also had a friend back in the 90s who wrote papers for college and unibin students tell me that most of his work came from education students. He even wrote a PhD paper for someone. Given what we know about celebs paying their way through, who knows if Dr. Jill even wrote the paper. Nowadays, you can just get ChatGPT to do it while you watch Bosch.
I know what you mean.
ChatGPT would have done a much better job--would at least have defined "retention" and discussed the complexities of the problem clearly instead of assuming that whenever a student drops out of college, it is because his or her "needs" weren't being met.
I am still angry over the scurrilous allegations that were made against Joseph Epstein, and the risible encomia to Dr. Jill. Many commentators had the gall to suggest that Epstein, one of the best living English essayists, was jealous of Dr. Jill.
This gets funnier. I didn't follow any of this. Seems like there's room for an actual satire here. Could be a classic.
Remember those far off days when first year undergraduates were capable of writing an essay without using Grammarly?
I bet the reason this is the worst thesis you’ve ever read is because you haven’t read Michelle Robinson’s.
Sorry, Michelle LaVaughn Robinson’s
I remember reading a high school exit exam from 1895 and feeling very close to being mentally retarded. Reading this article about Jill Biden makes me feel very close to being Albert Einstein.
I have to admit to being rather ignorant of the political goings on in North America. However the desperation to apply superlatives to relatively minor achievements from women is familiar enough. I noticed that "misogyny" was applied in this case and there is here in the UK a growing tendency for "misogyny" to mean what "sexism" meant until recently and "chauvinism" used to mean. In one case "the public" continuing to use the term "fireman" being misogyny , rather than the official term "firefighter". Probably because despite 30 years of initiatives there are almost no firewomen seen, apart from in dramas. How this was an indication "the pubic" had a deep seated hatred of women I don't now. And it is very noticeable that female politicians get a very easy ride here too.
Do you hear an outcry from these same politicians for the gender disparities in the childcare industry, early education or nursing? No, it's a one way street. How about the evil DEI programs that disparage and demean straight white men.
Exactly. Here an RAF officer (female by the way) resigned an whistle blew as it turned out she was told to simply prevent white male applicants taking the application aptitude tests, because the white male applicants tended to do well! At least 160 young men were illegally prevented from completing the process.
"In one case "the public" continuing to use the term "fireman" being misogyny"
"Man" as a prefix or suffix generally comes from the Latin word "manus" which means to or by hand. I've prevented a number of boards of management from formal change to the title "chairman" by asking if they consider "manuscript" to be gendered. Do only men write?
Thanks Janice. That was quite a read.
Now I understand why Dr Biden wears upholstery fabric!
"is promptly beaten into the dust for his temerity"
Love that!
I believe that if the linguistic use of the word "Misogyny" is examined, it will be found that the word is often used to shut down discussions, or examination of issues that need to be examined.
It is a sticky label trying to portray the people who the label is stuck as not worth listening to or even reading.
It is about guilt tripping and shaming. All that tactics that were used against the WSJ.
I truly hope that Tucker Carlson reads this and interviews you. This is excellent! I thought the same years ago but did not have the patience to wade through Biden's sub-par thesis. I found it online and knew it was laughable from the title, but left it at that. Thank you for subjecting yourself to that text on our behalf. Also, I would agree with Epstein's argument. I have a humanities Ph.D. (from a far more distinguished institution than Biden's) but don't presume to give myself the title "Dr." It's usually considered pretentious to do so. I used to work for a politician who signed his letters "Dr. ___" and to be honest I was embarrassed for him. I recall a local newspaper mocking him for that. The partisan attack on Epstein is appalling but unsurprising in this day and age. It's typical of Leftists to misuse race and gender in this way. Thank you for setting the record straight. For now, those deemed guilty by the hivemind are publicly shamed, and some even fired, but I fear a time when running afoul of Big Brother will result in more murderous consequences by the state, as in China. The only way to prevent this, I believe, is for more and more people of good conscience to speak out against this nonsense. Conservatives can no longer afford to be silent. It won't just go away by itself. We went from being a silent majority to a silenced minority. Bad thinking and abuses of power have to be challenged, as you are doing. I truly appreciate all your videos and writings.
Thank you for this, my friend. Mark Roberts, above, pointed out that Jill Biden was actually awarded an EdD rather than a PhD (my bad). But it's a terrible piece of work regardless, and the attack on Epstein was unfounded. Being called 'Doctor' in an academic setting is one thing; it is ludicrous in the public sphere.
I meant to read Biden's dissertation when the flap first developed, but I was doing something else at the time. It was only recently, after discovering Joseph Epstein and realizing that he had been the truth-teller who was so mercilessly attacked--and also hearing Biden called Dr. Biden at a football game--that I decided to bite the bullet.
Nurse Jill rather than 'Dr Biden'. I think I'd suffer Guantanamo Bay before addressing her in that way.
One way the Woke juggernaut might be halted is when the circular firing squad is fully developed and many who imagined they were immune lose their own scalps.
I am absolutely in awe of you at this moment.
I believe Jill penned a (fictional?) children's picture book, about a young Joe Biden. Young Joe was picked on for being slow, but he showed them!
In real life, Jill sat down with Joe and handled the tougher questions from reporters.
Marvellous!
I thought Mrs Biden was known to wags as 'Nurse Jill'.