Jill Biden and the Doctoring of Doctoral Degrees for Nondoctors
Feb 17, 2021 Terry Stoops
“I’m hoping Dr. Jill becomes the surgeon general, his wife. Joe Biden’s wife. She would never do it, but, yeah, she’s a hell of a doctor. She’s an amazing doctor,†proclaimed actress and co-host of The View Whoopi Goldberg last March.After someone alerted Whoopi to the fact that “Dr. Jill†has a doctor of education (EdD) degree from the University of Delaware and not a medical degree, Goldberg apologized. “I was wrong about his wife. I was wrong, before you start texting and emailing,†she said.
Starting with Goldberg’s slip-up in March and ending with Joseph Epstein’s Wall Street Journal op-ed asking Biden to “drop the doc†in December, Jill Biden’s ubiquitous presence on the national stage during the 2020 presidential election revived long-standing debates about the use of the “Dr.†honorific and the academic degrees that underlie it.
What does the honorific mean in an era of mass credentialing and low academic standards?
In a syrupy profile published in the spring 2007 issue of Wilmington, Delaware lifestyle magazine Brandywine Signature, Jill Biden recounts her delight after returning home from defending her dissertation and finding two signs in the yard waiting for her: “Congratulations Dr. Jacobs-Biden†and “Dr. and Senator Biden Live Here.â€
Everywhere the Bidens traveled, the titles went with them. Presumably, Senator Biden’s team considered Dr. Jill’s honorific to be so politically expedient that it became a prominent feature of every one of his campaigns, starting with his unsuccessful attempt to obtain the Democratic nomination for president in 2008. Until recently, only one writer dared to question their comically excessive use of the title.
In early 2009, Los Angeles Times opinion columnist Robin Abcarian noticed that campaign news releases and subsequent White House announcements persistently referred to her as “Dr. Jill Biden.†She asked fellow journalists and academics to weigh in.
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https://www.jamesgmartin.center/2021/02/jill-biden-and-the-doctoring-of-doctoral-degrees-for-nondoctors/