Tams, Caps & Mortarboards . . .

Does this headgear differ by degree, or by school, or by school and degree?

What’s your preference: 4, 6 or 8 sided?

Are there any rare, unique, and/or extraordinary tams, caps & mortarboards out there?

Anything else we should add to this discussion?

 

It varies. UNM where I got my J.D. put so-called "professional' doctors in mortarboards and PhDs and EdDs in tams or beefeater hats at one time or another. I don't know what they're doing now. Strange to say, there's politics involved! The University of Washington puts LL.M.s in black Masters gowns with purple Masters hoods and black tassels and mortarboards but J.D.s get black doctors gowns and gold tassels. Don't know why. Yale put LL.M.s in Yale colored doctor gowns with Masters hoods. I don't know if they still do that. M.D.s seem sometimes to get tams even when J.D.s get mortarboards. All very confusing.

 

In Finland, if you graduate with a doctorate then you are required to wear a special doctor hat and sword to your graduation ceremony.

 

My doctoral advisor at Union had her PhD from UNM. Her academic gown was the most beautiful red with gold trim. Simply stunning.

When I graduated from Excelsior's public predecessor, we all work street clothes.

When I graduated from Leicester, I didn't want to make yet another trip across the pond, so I didn't attend. They didn't even mention the names of the graduates not in attendance! Boooo!

 

At Liberty, all doctoral degree recipients, including J.Ds and D.Os, wear doctoral gown and tam.

 

It's something about the doctoral gown and tam that makes it feel official when you finish a doctorate, Ph.D., law degree, etc..

 

I side with the affronted dissertation doctorates. Their gowns should be in the colors of the institution with gold tassels while us so-called "professional doctorates" should be in, at most, basic black with a degree colored tassel. That's what UNM did back in 1986 when I got my J.D. More appropriate for J.D.s would be black Bachelor's gowns with the now unusual Bachelor hood in purple. No one in the U.S. has done that for many years that I know of. Even in the LL.B. days, some law schools put their graduates in doctoral gowns.

 

I disagree a law school degree just like a medical degree such as a doctor of chiropractor, doctor of physical therapy, and even an MD requires work beyond bachelors. Most law programs require 90 credits to graduate. That's more than the usual master's and doctorate programs combined. Now I am not saying the courses are as hard or even on the same level as doctorate/PhD level but a JD falls between a master's and doctorate in my opinion. Law schools allow their graduates to use gowns that represent the school's color but as we know they require purple to signify the major on the gown stripes and hood if applicable.

 

I rented my gown in FSU garnet and gold for my graduation. Now that I face prospect of attending commencements as faculty, official FSU robe is for sale at the bookstore for $1151.70. I am seriously considering to either get a basic black robe or order a knock-off somewhere, in burgundy red (close enough to garnet).

 

Yeah, that was the argument alright. But there is no academic research requirement for the J.D. It really isn't a doctorate despite the stupid decision of the law schools to call it a doctorate.

 

The first professional doctorate is distinguished from the professional doctorate in that the first is a degree used to enter a profession while the second is an actual doctorate, but with an emphasis on practice instead of scholarship.

We've seen many professions "doctorize" themselves over the years, degree inflation, if you will. Nurse practitioners, lawyers, physical therapists, pharmacists, they've all moved up to the doctorate. But the first professional doctorate is distinctly different from the doctorate in that a new contribution--in the form of a scholarly or practical dissertation--is not done.

But what about the title "doctor"? Well, that term has roots in both professions and academics. Note that almost all graduates of first professional doctorates don't actually use the title "doctor," except medical and para-medical practitioners. The nearby ones--pharmacists and nurses, for example, tend not to. (Although graduates of DNP programs have begun doing it, and it's causing confusion.)

So, are first professional doctorates actually doctorates? Well, they're really different things using the same title.

 

No. They aren't.

 

I think that you identified the source of my querulousness. (Is that really a word?) I don't like the widespread "doctorization". It's stupid. It's confusing. It's needless. It's essentially dishonest. I have a Master of Laws for which I worked much harder class by class than I ever worked for my J.D. There IS a doctorate in law; I just don't happen to hold that degree in part because I DIDN'T WANT TO WRITE A DISSERTATION. Hello?

Physicians are different I think because we use the title "Doctor" to describe people who practice medicine independent of supervision. The title for physicians doesn't come from the Academy; it comes from a long standing social custom.

Lawyers, wonder of wonders, generally understand the stupidity of the so-called "Juris Doctor" and do not make any use of the title even among law school faculty. The few who try it swiftly suffer the ridicule they deserve.

Boo! Hiss!