I read earlier today (sorry can't remember the thread) someone suggesting that use of a "dodgy" doctorate for social purposes was ok as long as no professional claims were made. The story was about a discussion in an airport queue if I remember correctly. Well by ok I mean not illegal. Arguement seems a bit "iffy" to me but I'm not a laywer. This go me thinking. I work as an analytical chemist and have a professional qualification equivalent to a degree but do not have a formal BS/BSc or whatever. When I sign certificates of analysis for materials shipped or sign off reports for submission to the regulatory authorities, then I use my post-nominal designations after my name. They will be taken as an indication of my competence in that field. As a discussion point (I would like to hear some viewpoints on this out of professional interest), no flaming please what does everyone think of this. If I study for and am awarded a completely genuine and accredited BSc/BS degree in another subject other than chemistry.Then if I use the designatory letters after my name then anyone reading it will assume that my degree is in chemistry but it isn't. From the point of view of misleading a potential reader of the document, isn't this situation very similar to someone just using a degree that is, shall we say, less legitimate as long as they have the actual skills.
IMHO, if you've earned a legitimate degree then you can rightfully list the appropriate designation after your name (although I don't know any people who list BSc or BS or BA after their signatures). If people make an assumption about the subject area of your degree then, well you know what they say about assumptions. There are many university professors whose degree is in one area yet they teach in another (Richard Rorty comes to mind), and this is not considered to be "misleading." I do not see that situation as being even remotely similar to one in which someone lists bogus credentials, regardless of whether they possess a certain skill set. Jack
I agree with Jack, with this in addition. If you're signing some sort of official documents requiring you to display your competence to sign through listing your non-degree qualification, keep on listing that non-degree qual. Otherwise, you could wind up in a mess if someone were to ask if it's on the strength of the BSc listed that you made the judgment. If listing the degree is a social enhancement in the workplace, and you've legitimately earned it, go ahead and list it.
I agree that using a degree title in public is fine -- but when the degree content has no connection with the situation, it might be appropriate to mention this, or at least use the subject along with the degree (B.Sc., chemistry). Dr. Laura has been offered as a classic case is misdirection. She really does have a doctorate, but it is in nothing remotely related to therapy, counseling, psychology, etc. Would she have been less successful if promoted as 'the great physiologist who will help you solve all your problems.' What is Dr. Ruth's degree in, I wonder? Or Dr. Phil. Or Dr. Albert. (Charming anti-Laura site: http://www.infoshop.org/library/drlaura.html) John Bear, Ph.D. (Communication)
Dr. Ruth Westheimer "Born in Germany in 1928, Dr. Westheimer was sent to a school in Switzerland at the age of 10 which became an orphanage for most of the German/Jewish students sent there. At 16 she went to Israel where she fought for that country's independence as member of the Haganah. She then moved to Paris where she studied psychology at the Sorbonne and taught kindergarten. "She immigrated to the U.S. in 1956 where she obtained her Masters degree in Sociology and her Ph.D. in Education from Columbia University. She studied human sexuality with Dr. Helen Singer-Kaplan at New York Hospital-Cornell University Medical Center." http://www.wic.org/bio/westheim.htm
Dr Phillip C. McGraw "Dr. Phil was awarded a football scholarship to the University of Tulsa, and then finished his degree at Midwestern State University in Wichita Falls, Texas. Later, he earned his doctorate in psychology at the University of North Texas. In 1979, Dr. Phil opened a practice with his father, who got his psychology degree at the age of 40." http://www.drphil.com/about/about_landing.jhtml
Hey that isn't the Dr. Laura nude picture website. I hear that the Dr. Ruth nude website was closed by an act of Congress, maybe just a rumour.
A remote connection, perhaps, if she supports the medical model, which, I don't think she does, however.
Dr. Laura sometimes exaperates me, but I have heard her give out quite a bit of good advice to otherwise clueless callers. I remember some years ago when Laura Schlessinger and Barbara DeAngelis had a feud over their respective degrees and, apparently, Schlessinger's accredited Ph.D. from Columbia UNiversity trumped DeAngelis' unaccredited Ph.D. from Columbia Pacific U. Schlessinger does have a MFCC license. Someone from Pepperdine told me that she was on the faculty of that school for several years (in the Psychology Dept.) Tony
She holds postdoctoral certification and licensing in marriage and family therapy and has been a faculty member at both Pepperdine and Univ. So. Cal.
