Ban mortarboarding!

Fiddle Faddle

Member
Aug 7, 2015
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I find this "mortarboarding" practice to be a despicable one. You want the degree? Then you qualify for entry to university, study for years, pay your fees and pass all the exams. Not only do I have no respect for the process, I instantly lose any respect I might have had for anyone accepting such a degree. Surely they can decline the offer, even if it is an offer from an alma mater.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-05-06/honorary-doctorates-qualification-or-publicity-stunt/8496286
 

Fiddle Faddle

Member
Aug 7, 2015
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Australia
I think it is very unfortunate that this practice can be borne out of tragedies such as that. It just makes it potentially even worse - since the recipient has absolutely no involvement in the process whatsoever. I can understand that one reason behind the practice is to attract interest and publicity (which in turn may lead to additional funding or higher attendance rates), however there are other less controversial ways to do this. In the above instance you linked to, my first reaction would be to create a scholarship in the person's name, however that of course requires a lot of money. Honourary degrees, on the other hand, don't require any such financial considerations.
 

GaryProtein

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Honorary degrees are a complete disgrace and never deserved. EVERYBODY gets life experience and that does NOT mean you should get a degree for it.

If you want a degree, apply, get accepted and pass all the exams. It doesn't matter if you can go from high school to PhD in three years like Sheldon Cooper or get your MD degree by the time you are 12 like Doogie Hauser, but you have to jump all the hurdles to legitimately EARN your degree.
 

C.A.P

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Apr 23, 2010
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Its easy to give the rich a honorary degree when they provide a new wing to a building aptly named after them or because of their desire to have some form of research done in reguards to a family members conditions

There is no honor in getting a free degree when you did not earn it! Honorary DR..????? Really... Aren't we all DR of life.. It does not give us any honor to disrespect the men and women who did the time to earn it.. You don't see the Military giving out Honorary General titles !
 

ddk

Well-Known Member
May 18, 2013
6,261
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I think it is very unfortunate that this practice can be borne out of tragedies such as that. It just makes it potentially even worse - since the recipient has absolutely no involvement in the process whatsoever. I can understand that one reason behind the practice is to attract interest and publicity (which in turn may lead to additional funding or higher attendance rates), however there are other less controversial ways to do this. In the above instance you linked to, my first reaction would be to create a scholarship in the person's name, however that of course requires a lot of money. Honourary degrees, on the other hand, don't require any such financial considerations.

This particular one has nothing to do with any tragedy it's a political statement. These days everything is politicized here and this is just another reminder of our division, but no more idiotic and worthless than the noble prize obama received!

david
 
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Folsom

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As someone who was in the system a lot more recently, I can assure you these honorary doctorates are not that bad compared to the pay-to-play students of today. It's very frustrating having your education watered down by a bunch of idiots that have been convinced they need an education. It's created higher numbers of graduate students too as degrees just don't impress anyone these days.
 

GaryProtein

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. . . . It's created higher numbers of graduate students too as degrees just don't impress anyone these days.

Your statement reminded me of one of my extremely bright residents, who during his three year residency concomitantly earned three real masters degrees in microbiology, physiology and business administration. After graduating he went on to a second residency where he is persuing two more masters programs. The joke between us became could he "trade" three of his masters degrees for one PhD.
 

Folsom

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Ah, I did meet a few professional students that found going to class and living poor to be much better than absolute distitude of $200k-400k worth or debt bearing down on them working for slave labor at $12/hr.

The schools like them, since they are in competition and love good grades and graduation numbers.

After awhile it seems so comical to see parents come to the U's with their babies, seeing if it's a good option like buying a car...

Me personally I craved avant-garde, research, etc. All disciplines at a college should be aimed that way, if there state institutions. Today only a few schools at any given U really are that way; the rest being a factory. I was rarely judged for content, instead somehow ones ability to use grammar and rewrite for structure was the key to "success". Simple fact, they're a corrupt state institutions and I understand why people may not want to pay for the low benefits of a bunch of useless test takers.
 

Folsom

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It's funny, these honorary doctorates are ironically more so what U's should hope comes of anyone in a school they have, say in arts. It's just awkward however that doctorate is the title. I think it's a bad title because people say it without saying honorary... if you include that then all is fine. They simply need a new moniker.
 

still-one

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Aug 6, 2012
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How about the story of the professor

A dean at Boston University, heard the rumors that a certain professor was indiscriminately awarding a final grade of A to all his students. That was unusual back then when most professors graded on the bell curve and only a handful of the best students received an A. Some actually failed and most received grades of B or C. But in the case of this particular professor everybody got an A. As a test, the Dean surreptitiously enrolled a fictitious student into the roster of his next class. This "nobody" never came to class, never wrote a term paper and never took an exam. At the end of the semester the mysterious student received an A.

That led to a discussion with the professor. In a tone of righteous indignation he claimed the Dean had overstepped his bounds to play such a trick on him. With righteous indignation the Dean claimed that he had underperformed as a professor by acting in a reckless manner, grading his students with careless abandonment. The Dean believed the professors actions were a mark of failure in academic responsibility.
 

still-one

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Its easy to give the rich a honorary degree when they provide a new wing to a building aptly named after them or because of their desire to have some form of research done in reguards to a family members conditions

There is no honor in getting a free degree when you did not earn it! Honorary DR..????? Really... Aren't we all DR of life.. It does not give us any honor to disrespect the men and women who did the time to earn it.. You don't see the Military giving out Honorary General titles !

Anyone who has been in the Military knows that some individuals with rank must be honorary.
 

NorthStar

Member
Feb 8, 2011
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Vancouver Island, B.C. Canada


In sports as in wars you earn medals/decorations/trophies for your courage, merits, exploits, winning teams, strength, being the best.

I don't know enough about Honorary Diplomas/Degrees from schools/universities.
The other day (two days ago, last Friday), this was in the news: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4475454/Student-caught-cheating-invisible-ink.html?ITO=1490
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/ent...t-university-exam_uk_590c30f3e4b0104c734dbe77
https://www.theguardian.com/educati...niversity-students-are-using-tech-to-in-exams

One thousand years from now, if our planet is still orbiting, some famous names will be in wikipedia, and the underground truth still looking for an escape.
In another thread our passion for audio honesty had a strong imprint. ...Comparative Listening Tests: http://www.whatsbestforum.com/showt...istening-Tests&p=446825&viewfull=1#post446825
...To be "intellectually honest".
 

JackD201

WBF Founding Member
Apr 20, 2010
12,303
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How about the story of the professor

A dean at Boston University, heard the rumors that a certain professor was indiscriminately awarding a final grade of A to all his students. That was unusual back then when most professors graded on the bell curve and only a handful of the best students received an A. Some actually failed and most received grades of B or C. But in the case of this particular professor everybody got an A. As a test, the Dean surreptitiously enrolled a fictitious student into the roster of his next class. This "nobody" never came to class, never wrote a term paper and never took an exam. At the end of the semester the mysterious student received an A.

That led to a discussion with the professor. In a tone of righteous indignation he claimed the Dean had overstepped his bounds to play such a trick on him. With righteous indignation the Dean claimed that he had underperformed as a professor by acting in a reckless manner, grading his students with careless abandonment. The Dean believed the professors actions were a mark of failure in academic responsibility.

Talk about not getting what you pay for.
 

Fiddle Faddle

Member
Aug 7, 2015
548
2
16
Australia
Your statement reminded me of one of my extremely bright residents, who during his three year residency concomitantly earned three real masters degrees in microbiology, physiology and business administration. After graduating he went on to a second residency where he is persuing two more masters programs. The joke between us became could he "trade" three of his masters degrees for one PhD.

In your case your resident was as you say, extremely bright. But I cannot help but think back to one of my late father's favourite expressions: "too many degrees of nothingness". He used this to describe people who had more letters after their name than letters in their actual name, yet proved themselves to be eminently incapable in discharging the responsibilities and rising to the challenges of their chosen profession.

Here in Australia Dad and I usually reserved such expressions for senior engineers involved in road design and construction. It was as if they spent so much time doing the calculations, they never actually sat down to consider how whatever they designed would work in "real life". Little has improved over the decades. There is a local pedestrian crossing that I determined immediately upon seeing it that it was an accident (or tragedy) waiting to happen. I wrote to the senior engineers involved, only to be blown off with the usual "we are all highly qualified and know what we are doing" type of answer. Three years on, there have been several broken bones, two sets of traffic lights knocked over and few front to rear enders.

And I do have to say that in the years I worked for a major company, the number of people who did have real degrees and probably ought not to have was worryingly high.
 

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