Doctorates: Honorary or honourable?

PROF HOLLIS “CHALKDUST” LIVERPOOL

WHEN FORMER judge Anthony Carmona became president of Trinidad and Tobago and consequently assumed the chancellorship of the University of TT, at the university’s graduation ceremony one year, he whispered into the ears of all the graduates who had completed their master’s degree in Carnival studies: “Go now and get your doctorate.”

A committed few of them have since made the attempt to do so, but a confused number of the graduating cohort approached me recently with a contorted view: “Why must we spend years to read for a doctorate when government is handing out doctoral awards freely in bundles to artists and businessmen every year on Republic Day.”

They went on to say that people like deceased Lord Superior, Roy Cape and Black Stalin have never even entered the door of a secondary school, and yet government has bathed them with doctorates. Worse, UTT has given ordinary citizens who have never even read a lawbook on TT doctorates in law and extended doctorates in business and science to orphanage graduates and countless other institutions, for selling four-corner cake and solo sweet drinks.

For the record, readers must know that accredited universities such as UWI, UTT, Howard, Harvard, Oxford and Cambridge (to name a few) give to their graduates at the first level bachelor’s degrees in science, maths and the humanities, or in whatever area the student studied. They are then considered to hold undergrad degrees such as a BA or a BSc. Those whose work have not attained the level of a four-year degree are usually awarded certificates or diplomas.

There are, too, many accredited community colleges and universities that award associate degrees to students whose work extends to less than the normal 120-degree credits, or whose tenure at the institution is limited to a two-year study.

Note, reader, that an MD in medicine (medical doctor) and a JD in law (juris doctor) are both first-level, professional, undergrad degrees, although many a medical doctor in TT loves to put up their first degrees on their office walls to attract clients and unsuspecting people, especially those who cannot afford to pay a large sum to correct their health issues.

When students graduate from a postgraduate or second-level study, they are usually awarded master’s degrees. Accredited universities therefore grant master’s degrees to students whose work extended to periods of time beyond the three or four-year undergraduate, first-degree level. Such students graduate with postgraduate degrees such as an MA, MBA, MSc, and MS.

Normally, however, any study, certificate, or diploma where the field of study is beyond the undergraduate (bachelor's) level, such as accountancy, dentistry, finance or a DipEd (Diploma in Education) is yet considered to be postgraduate.

Holders of a DMD (Doctor of Dental Medicine), for example, have completed at least four years of post-graduate work but are not considered holders of doctorates. When, then, a student completes his or her undergraduate, first-level study and is accepted by the university to do higher or upper-level studies, that student or the study itself is normally assumed to be a postgraduate one.

The doctorate is the highest, most advanced academic award given to students at accredited universities; it is a third-level academic study. It symbolises that the students have mastered a significant level of work either by research and articulation and have drafted dissertations to defend their modes of thought or their findings gained from research.

Those whose levels have been attained by research and a written dissertation, whereby the methodology and their findings are clinically defended, are awarded PhDs or the Doctor of Philosophy degree. In the US, on an average, less than 50 per cent of postgrad students complete their education at master’s level. Hence a significant number of doctorate starters are given ABDs (dissertation absent) since the gaining of a doctorate is one that entails years of further rigorous study (four to eight years beyond the masters) and intense commitment on the part of the student.

Normally, in music and education, those whose performance levels are articulated beyond the ordinary, or are outstanding practitioners of their areas of study, are awarded EdDs or Doctor of Education degrees.

A Doctor of Education degree, in terms of education and status, is accepted in circles of academia as being a little lower than a PhD. However, note, gentle reader, that there are also many Doctors of Divinity degrees (DDs) handed to many religious pastors by disreputable community colleges and certain religious non-Catholic institutions, and there are, especially in the US, many confounded degree mills that sell degrees, including PhDs, to unworthy people all over the world.

If the truth be told, Doctor of Divinity degrees are usually honorary or granted to the recipients freely.

Our citizenry, especially our students, must not confuse the gaining of academic degrees from accredited universities with accolades that emerge from our government and our universities, especially those that emanate from the University of the West Indies (UWI) and the University of TT (UTT) on Republic Day.

Doctoral degrees from universities are awards for academic work and academic pursuits. PhDs reflect people who have topped the table of academic thought and philosophy and lead the world in education, policy making, analysis of ideas, sound epistemologies, expressive writing, and critical thinking. Hence the reason I wrote in an article a year ago that many current parliamentarians show little respect for authors of dissertations, such as our Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley.

Accolades from the government such as the ORTT and the Chaconia and Hummingbird Medals are simply commendations and medals of acknowledgement distributed to the populace for their contributions to the society or a field of industry.

That is why such doctorates, as those given to calypsonians and musicians, are termed “honorary.” In fact, the only institution that has the right to address the honorary doctorate as “doctor” is the institution that has conferred the honour on the honorary recipient; all members of the non-awarding public ought to address such a person as “honorary doctor.”

An honorary doctorate given to a lawyer does not make him or her a professional attorney, unless, like Russell Martineau, he holds a law degree from an accredited university.

Similarly, an honorary doctorate in science given to a calypsonian or a businessperson does not make him/her a scientist, nor a professor of science, or even social science; they are awarded to people who have impacted our world in areas such as healthcare, economics, entertainment and even medicine, but they are not certificates to be used for job applications nor promotions, etc.

Why, Taylor Swift the American singer holds an honorary doctorate from New York University; Rihanna the Barbadian singer obtained hers from UWI in Barbados, and Bill Gates obtained his from Harvard.

Accredited universities grant doctorate degrees to those who embody scholarly achievements; honorary degrees celebrate contributions to society; they are purely titular degrees and confer no academic rights on the recipient.

Go now, graduates of UTT, and persevere towards your PhD.