Should people with PHD's call themselves, "doctor"?

I agree fletch.

 

To add to what Chopayne says, in the military it is a requirement to show respect to the rank, not the person and definitely not free will. Also, in the military as it should be elsewhere, the good leaders EARNED the respect of their subordinates. You cannot demand respect, you command it by demonstrating your leadership skills.

 

Actually worked out for me real well Dave, I often called officers by their rank and didn't have a problem with it. I personally reserved "Sir" and "Ma'am" for the commissioned officers that earned the respect of the soldiers. Managed to have a great career for 33 years.

 

If someone has spent as much time in school as it takes to get a PHD, written and defended a dissertation then they have "earned" the right to be addressed as Dr. Whatever. That doesn't mean they have to be respected as a person, that is a respect that also has to be earned, IMHO. My rule is to repect everyone until they show me they don't deserve other's respect.

 

Sounds kind of cruddy but I am not calling an assistant principal "Doctor". Now I will give the guy credit. He works in a pretty rough middle school. He is principal Smith to me.

 

You have a title that comes with your job, would you be okay to be addressed as "Hey Bud" instead of Officer/Patrolman?

 

I've often wondered what would compel a man to name his son "Richard" .

 

Exactly my point. You called them by their rank and it worked out well. Someone with a doctorate has earned their rank and has the right to that title just the same. Not all of them have egos large enough to ask to be called "Dr." But, those that do have earned it. My son is looking to get his PhD in education and I hope to some day call him "Dr." But I would suspicion he will have his students call him by his first name.

 

Perhaps because even as an infant the strong leadership skills were recognized. Or, it could be that its done so the week minded have something to snicker about.

 

That is an ungodly amount of years, was it all active?

The thing is, in the military you're required to, in the civilian side it is a courtesy extended.

Ive met some profs that prefer to be called doctor, screw that, ill call them doctor when I want to call them doctor not because they want me to. It is kind of reverse psychology, if I know they have a PhD but they don't make me call them doctor, I call them doctor, if they insist on doctor, I insist on not doing as such. Maybe im still immature, but fortunately on the civilian side you have the option to call them whatever title you please, to an extent.

As for being a police officer, im pretty sure he gets called a pig and everything else. And you know, he can't arrest them. Which adds to my point, you are not required to call someone a certain title in the civilian side.

 

Maybe a bit of elucidation is needed here.

It is the custom in Scotland and in most of Europe to award the degree of Doctor of Medicine to those who have achieved a high level of education in that field. That is not the custom in England or in some other countries. Well, as it happened, the medical schools on this continent decided to award the Doctor of Medicine degree and graduates who became practicing physicians became known as "doctor" to those having little knowledge of academic degrees.

Most other professional schools followed the English tradition. People becoming preachers were awarded the Bachelor of Divinity degree. Law school graduates were awarded the Bachelor of Laws degree(L.L.B.). Since people who earned Ph.D.'s were mostly college professors, an uniformed population concluded that "doctor" meant someone who practices medicine.

The appropriate title for someone who practices medicine is "physician." You can receive a Doctor of Medicine degree and not be allowed to practice medicine because you never passed the board exams for your state. Are you still a Doctor? Yep. It's an academic degree. Someone with a Ph.D. can be correctly addressed as "doctor" out of respect for the earned degree.

A physician could come over here from England, pass the boards and practice medicine here as a fully qualified physician. Would that person be a doctor? Probably not, because in England the degree is Bachelor of Medicine. I have a law degree. The law degree used to be Bachelor of Laws. Now they grant a Juris Doctor, Doctor of Laws. Could I be addressed as doctor? Well yes, but we don't do that. In law schools, faculty with Ph. D.'s are addressed as "doctor" but faculty with law degrees (J.D.'s) are addressed as "professor."

Note that there is a difference between the academic degree and the job. You can have a law degree and not be able to practice law, because you never passed the bar exam. You can be an M.D. and not be allowed to practice medicine because you never passed the boards. See how that works?

But as most of you have noticed, many of us with genuine, earned, doctoral degrees do not use the title, except for M.D.'s. Why not? Well because we don't want folks who don't know any better getting there panties in a twist thinking that we are pretending to be "real doctors."

 

[video=youtube_share;ixiYZ9DPk8o]http://youtu.be/ixiYZ9DPk8o[/video]

 

Interesting and welcome.

To me, those who insist on being called a doctor for those who are not medical doctors but have PhDs are the ones who snickered and said "when I get my PhD im going to make all my students and everyone else call me doctor" or just someone who wanted a title to be snobby. Just the way I view them, I view those who do not insist and simply mention when asked that they have a PhD who have earned my respect and get called doctor.

 

For some people I know with PHD's, they see being compared to medical doctors as an insult, when in re valance to the complexities of the universe.

 

That's very narrow minded and presumptuous and at your own admission, kind of immature. That's a little like saying that all bow-hunters wound and waste game. Some folks overcame huge obstacles in their life and made huge sacrifices to earn their doctorate. For some, it has nothing to do with being snobby. It has everything to do with common courtesy.

 

There are really few times when progressing, increasing and pursuing further education can be looked upon as a bad thing, is it the chicken noodle soup that holds todays society together, hardly, but I can say this much, I don't see the plus in the hours of playing video games as furthering one educational or job opportunities, in fact, I have never know a person with a PHD to have trouble with the simple function of a baseball hat, some thing I can't say about some lesser educated youths of today.

 

I've worked with a few NURSES who have their PHD, and like to be called "Doctor," however, I see that as confusing, and usually refer to them by first name as the title "Doctor" in a hospital is more than a little confusing when dealing with "real" Doctors, and nurses. When asked why I wouldn't call Dr. Debbie, "Doctor," I said that she is a NURSE until she has either her D.O. or M.D. in this setting, however, I agree that in the setting of an educational instituion or environment, then that title has been earned, and is acceptable.

 

Common courtesy dictates that you don't force someone to call you a certain title. Common courtesy provides respect to another person when speaking, Mister or Miss is respectful enough, to demand that one be called a doctor because one has a PhD is immature and snooty. I might as well create some fake empire on world of warcraft and make everyone call me King.

 

Valid point.

However, I just can't bring myself to call someone "Doctor Smith" in an educational setting. I just cannot.