Short answer, “Yes.” Joseph Epstein’s answer: “Sort of, but…” On December 11 Epstein wrote “Is There a Doctor in the White House?” for the Wall Street Journal. He suggested that our impending “First Lady” should stop calling herself “Doctor Jill Biden.” Epstein once held the title of emeritus lecturer at Northwestern Western University. His name and title can no longer be found on the institution’s website. “While we firmly support academic freedom and freedom of expression,” Northwestern explained,” we do not agree with Mr. Epstein’s opinion and believe the designation of doctor is well deserved by anyone who has earned a Ph.D., an Ed.D. or an M.D.

Northwestern is firmly committed to equity, diversity and inclusion, and strongly disagrees with Mr. Epstein’s misogynistic views.” The English department had a statement of its own: “The Department is aware that a former adjunct lecturer who has not taught here in nearly 20 years has published an opinion piece that casts unmerited aspersion on Dr. Jill Biden’s rightful public claiming of her doctoral credentials and expertise. The Department rejects this opinion as well as the diminishment of anyone’s duly-earned degrees in any field, from any university.”

The department could not bring itself to name the demeritus – once-exmeritus – lecturer by name but we all know it was talking about an 84-year-old who has been writing essays longer than I’ve been able to read. A former editor of the American Scholar Mr. Epstein (he has no “doctorate”) has written countless essays on many different subjects. He’s been my second favorite living essay writer for twenty years.

He writes beautifully, has a keen sense of humor and makes his readers think without stirring them to fury. My evaluation of the man may be open to debate, but not by any of his critics. I say this with some confidence. After revolving in academic circles most of my life, I’ve met no leftist who could provide a significant list of conservative writers whom they have read. They just don’t. Maybe they can’t.

I can say that I’ve never read anything by Epstein that anyone but an ultra-feminist fury would call “misogynistic.” That word, according to its current popular usage, simply means shut up! – a synonym for fascist, racist, xenophobe, LGBQTphobe, reactionary, and extremist.

Bestow any one of those labels on someone, then no debate of discussion is needed.

Jill Biden’s sex has nothing to do with Epstein’s essay She was a way of introducing the subject of the increasing meaninglessness of advanced degrees in the humanities and social sciences. He has long argued that the PhD’s prestige dwindled because of the relaxation of standards in university education generally.

This is far from his first criticism of America’s enthusiasm for credentialism. He points out that handing out PhDs like peanuts at a cocktail party is good for the “higher” education business. Leave aside the political partisanship that provoked an immediate defense of Joe Biden’s wife regardless of the merits of Epstein criticism; personal and professional self-interest and self-esteem come into play.

The American Educational Research Association (AERA) is an interest group of education professors in the business of producing degrees in education. Within 48 hours, AERA’s executive director issued a statement calling Epstein “misogynistic,” while advising other newspapers to have “second thoughts” about publishing such ideas. Putting it in blunter terms they advised against allowing debate.

The Ed.D. is not widely respected in the academic world. “It’s a degree that only deeply unimpressive people feel confers the honorific of “Doctor, according to one critic… People who are actually smart understand that being in possession of a credential is no proof of intelligence.” Indeed, a colleague from my days in grad school who has a PhD told me some time ago that in his experience people with those degrees had IQs that ranged from genius down to “dull normal” – that the majority of those with the degree achieved them by diligence not intelligence. The same colleague also mentioned that he had dropped his “doctor” after he had run into too many dimwits with EdD’s who used the same title.

As it happens I’ve often been addressed as Doctor Frary. Sometimes I take the trouble to correct this error, sometimes I let it pass. So now is a good time to issue a blanket correction. According to the contract negotiated by AFT1040 at MCC, I’m Dr. Frary because I have an All But Dissertation (ABD) degree.

What that means is I completed an examination in German test, a half-day written examination, and a two hour oral examination. My thesis stalled on chapter three and I never resumed. This involved a lot more work than Dr. Biden’s thesis, which I’ve downloaded and read but … no dissertation, no doctorate. That’s the rule and there are good reasons for it. Or there used to be.

Reginald G. Damerell, an associate professor and author of “Education’s Smoking Gun” (1985) was present to watch Bill Cosby get his Doctor of Education degree from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst in 1977, Bill was the star of the commencement. The press took photos of the comedian, wearing his academic robes when he received his diploma.

His 242-page dissertation discussed ways that teachers could use his Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids animated TV shows as educational tools. “Cosby could have given up show business and spent six years at the school,” Damerell concluded, “and not know any more than he did anyhow … education has no body of knowledge, so it doesn’t matter how long you spend on it.”

Damerell argues that Cosby’s degree typifies the empty schooling given many education majors. He says that thousands of badly educated teachers are undermining elementary and high school instruction across the country., “A dissertation is supposed to be a contribution to human knowledge. This (Bill’s) isn’t. And I would say that 99 percent of [education] dissertations aren’t either.”

John Frary of Farmington, the GOP candidate for U.S. Congress in 2008, is a retired history professor, an emeritus Board Member of Maine Taxpayers United, a Maine Citizen’s Coalition Board member, and publisher of FraryHomeCompanion.com. He can be reached at jfrary8070@aol.com.

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