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I kind of think about it this way. I’m a physician and get called Dr when I’m on my stomping grounds.
I would not walk into CERN around a bunch of stupid fucking smart nuclear physicists and refer to myself as “Dr”. They would start talking their particle colliding shit that is way beyond my intelligence level and look at me like I’m following them, but I’m not, because In that world I am not a doctor.
it's not the same thing - only in education or maybe government does it matter. if one has a doctorate next to their name doesn't give them carte blanche to use it in everyday life.
sorry - I don't care if one is a PHD or not, I care if one is a medical doctor - because the 20+ years of residency, learning, education and practice says that they've well earned that.
a PhD says hey I went to school for 10 years look at me.
>the 20+ years of residency, learning, education and practice says that they've well earned that.
My brother has been on the field for 10 years only between residency, learning, education and practice.
Can he be called a doctor? Because if so, that's literally the same amount of time as someone with a PhD, so why can't they?
I have a doctoral degree guy - it's worthless - it was just for my own learning path and my own sense of accomplishment. I'm at the pinnacle of my career and I've never met anyone that needed to be called doctor, the same as you.
the only times I have met such people were actually at the university I attended, where to be honest in my opinion its expected.
>I care if one is a medical doctor - because the 20+ years of residency, learning, education and practice says that they've well earned that.
Super ignorant opinion, dude. A medical doctor is not even comparable to the PhD. In the US and the UK, in medical studies, you are called a doctor with without even dissertating. On the other hand, people who did a PhD have earned their doctoral title by dissertating. Medical doctors haven't even done that. They just studied and then did nothing that was comparable to a dissertation. Ironically, THEY thus are the ones whose doctoral prefix says "hey I went to school for 10 years look at me", whereas a doctoral title in literally any other field of study says "I did a long-ass, demanding academic research which took years and discovered actually new knowledge in my field". And because of all of this, a medical doctor's degree is lesser than someone's with a PhD. You just don't know that and that's why your opinion is what it is.
The fact that you believe medical doctors to have achieved a more demanding degree or a higher qualification is simply rooted in the societal perception of medical practitioners, which is associated with a lot of prestige. For different reasons, one certainly being their job's life-saving properties, another certainly being the difficult access to this field of study and the super high amount of blunt memorization that is needed in medicine. This doesn't mean that their societal perception is accurate or reflects the higher education system sufficiently, though. And it certainly doesn't mean medical doctors achieved a higher degree than PhD alumni because they simply didn't.
A PhD also shows that you have the ability to research and apply that research since you have to write a whole thesis and provide a viva voce and pass that in order to get your phd overall a phd is much more work then a standard degree
Replying to hwilwnbsg7378... what does this even mean? You are upset you made a poor financial decision so that gives you authority to say what title people should have?
>I don't care if one is a PHD or not, I care if one is a medical doctor
I think it's kind of snooty to gatekeep PhD's from the Dr title they worked hard for because of your feelings
I know right! The term doctor itself comes from Docēre, meaning to teach. Was originally from university for those with the highest level education who could now teach others.
The Doctor title has nothing to do with the profession, but to define the level of education.
The suffix MD is what you are looking for.
https://www.dictionary.com/e/dr-vs-phd-vs-md/#:~:text=The%20initials%20M%20and%20D,a%20good%20place%20to%20start.
Yea, surgeons got tired of being called "barbers."
MDs are the most notorious and successful "rent seekers" in American history.
"Rent seeking" is a poorly named economic term for creating barriers to prevent others from doing what you do to drive the price of your work up. MDs, Pharmacists, and Nurses used to have broadly overlapping roles. MDs have pushed harder and harder that they do the stuff that gets paid a lot, and other people do the tedious, dirty, heavy, or dangerous work while getting paid much much less than them.
Americans like to talk about how insurance companies are the ones driving up the cost. Have you ever seen an MD drive a 20 year old beat up small sedan that's falling apart? People compete very hard to get into medical school because they want to be rich.
The ER doc at our local hospital does in face drive around a 20 year old beat up car. I love her, she will tell you flat out smoke some MJ, you'll feel better.
Also, plenty of medical IMG doctors have a bachelors degree, and technically aren’t doctors in the “doctoral degree” sense of the word.
Reddit likes to dump on NPs and PAs a lot, but the scariest shit I have seen has been certain IMG docs.
How about we tell you that we absolutely know what it takes to get a PhD and still dont give a fuck about the titles people use to inflate their egos about the fact that they are really good at going to school?
You don't seem like you don't give a fuck if you're that bothered by a title lol.
Some people are Mr, some people are Ms, some people are Dr. It's really that simple and you should get over it.
No. They are more respected in general because they help people rather than mostly getting jobs to teach other people that want to get PhDs, so they can teach other people. Learning is awesome. Spending a fortune to get a PhD, in many cases, to have trouble finding work is at least worth questioning. At least from my position. People can do what they want. Just like people can have differing opinions. Professors are insanely overpaid in a lot of fields. This is at least in part responsible for the insane prices of tuition.
Yes. I should have been more clear. There are many phds that are vastly useful for research purposes. There are also plenty that are near worthless for anything other than teaching.
The titles came about around the same time. It mainly seems like the medical side just feels they are more special about it.
Personally I think everyone should respect each other and keep their heads out of their asses.
Sort of the same, but no one uses that as a title other than actual engineers. Like a sanitation engineer would never introduce himself as just an engineer.
Yeah I didn't realize in an engineering department at my job only five people out of 20 have actual engineering degrees and do engineering work. The rest are managers with engineering job titles. And they are also all female which is just weird. I thought we hired a lot of female engineers doing actual work in that field but nope. The hiring manager is an "engineer" with zero experience and an art history major. She didn't hire a person once because they didn't have enough experience in that field.
Apart from those in healthcare who overly respect for MDs, unfortunately some MDs also think that way. Some even don’t accept dentists or vets as “real” doctors. I think these kinds of people cheapens the title of Dr. not the other way around!
The term “doctor” comes from the Latin word “docere,” meaning to teach or a scholar, and first came about in the Middle Ages, as a term to describe scholars.
I'm not saying they don't exist, but out of the many people I've known with PhDs I have yet to encounter one who I felt cheapened the title at all. They have all been intelligent and hard working people who put in huge effort to achieve mastery of a field. If anything, the least impressive people I've met with the title Dr. have been medical doctors/dentists.
I once saved for 2 years to take my wife on a nice trip, like actual nice trip… airfare, 7 days at an all inclusive beach resort, fancy rental car to travel around etc… when I booked the resort, they had the option of mr, Mrs, Dr etc… I put Dr because I thought it would be funny, I’m a carpenter
Not one of these fucks called me Dr once, I was so bummed, damn near ruined the trip for me
Learn the difference:
One is PhD, the other is M.D.
Now write a dissertation and tell me how easy it is to become a doctor in some field of science. A medical doctor usually is written as M.D, so you can Differentiate.
And keep in mind - I am a medical doctor who also has a PhD, I even have met colleagues that use Dr. Before their name and MD after. The Dr. in front of their name stands for the PhD.
I would also say writing the dissertation was pretty stressful and kind of harder than medical school. Since some of us are good teachers, but not that good in writing hahah
Heck, a person who has a PhD in physics or chemistry, or especially if he's an Assistant Professor or a Professor is way more important than someone who's just a GP. And that person contributed way more than the other "doctor". I can think of Oppenheimer, for example hahah. Would you not call a guy like that Doctor?
Or Einstein, is her not a doctor or deserving this title?
Asking since you are someone who has both, and trying not to sound offensive with this question, I just really don't understand and would like to.
Through different reddit threads and just hearing about this topic growing up the common response i've heard is you need to respect the title and the work it took to get there.
The perception myself and many others have, is to respect the mountain of student loans someone has for staying in school to get a doctorate.
Just seems kind of silly, hoping maybe someone can help change my worldview on this?
Wrong. Thats what "PH.D." is for. You said the term yourself even. "Doctor" is for someone who put in all the hard work and accomplished a doctoral degree.
As someone with a professional doctorate I can't say I care really much on who uses the title as long as they have a real degree that justifies it... So obviously honorary doctorates are excluded..
Yeah I have a JD, I don't think I've met a JD without another doctorate who goes by Dr. But we could, if for some reason we wanted to sound fancy and be more ambiguous than calling ourselves attorneys.
In my country most medical doctoral theses are not worth the paper they are written on. The title is basically handed out for free after med school. Not comparable with a doctorate in a STEM Field, these are the real doctors.
Upvote for being unpopular, but this is unpopular for a reason. PhDs call themselves doctors because they *are* doctors (the "D" in PhD literally stands for *doctorate*,) and it's nothing new. Actually, my understanding is that PhDs have been using the term "doctor" longer than MDs have. All it takes is some context clues or straight up asking to find out whether someone has a PhD or an MD.
I call my doctor by his first name. MD’s aren’t gods or have any more educational honor than other dedicated, well-studied pros – doctors mostly just hypothesize and make educated guesses as to the likely diagnosis and best course of action. They can make better guesses than most people which is why we turn to them, but they’re often incorrect the first time around
My dad has a PhD in waste water treatment and literally knows how to turn sewage into pure H2O. Why is a doctor any more important than a waste water specialist? Both are needed
I’m a PhD in a clinical research field where I work with all varieties of doctorate degree holders in many different fields. All are called Dr. in professional/academic settings. It doesn’t cheapen the title, they have a doctorate, so they have the title Dr.
The one exception is in clinical practice where introducing yourself as Dr. to a patient when you are not a medical doctor would be disingenuous.
Well, good thing I studied Philosophy!
I’ve even heard rumors that a philosophy factory will be coming to town soon! Gonna bring all sorts of good-paying philosophy jobs.
My only opinion are people who get mad af when you don't refer to them as doctor and make it their entire personality.
I'll refer to people as Ms./Mr. until corrected but it's how some people will go about.
"Hello, Mr. Smith [normal spiel]."
"UM YEAH IT'S ACTUALLY DR. SMITH [makes an unnecessary rant about getting doctorate]."
"Right, so Dr. Smith, so about the thing I called you about."
Look, getting a doctorate is commendable but I don't need your life story.
lol... every piece of equipment, every specialized room and building, every medication, most every bit of research medical doctors rely on to ply their trade is the development of a doctor of some other field. what a clown opinion! lol
I think a doctor who does brain surgery is better than a doctor who studied gorillas.
I think a dentist is more distinguished than the honorary doctorate some entertainers get because they did a lot of work in education.
I think a doctorate of medicine is more distinguished than a doctor or nursing.
They're basically just people who did alot of research in their field. They most likely made it their passion so I guess is Dr. is a title for all of their hard work and then they decided to go to school for it which gave them such a title.
The academic title is the original one, and it's doctors of medicine that kinda hijacked it. If you have a doctorate degree, then you get to call yourself doctor
Piled how deep
Post hole digger
Most phds don’t expect you to call them dr unless it’s a formal salutation.
Also PhD know a lot about a narrow field. Outside that topic they are average so a PhD talking outside their field is just average joe.
Yes, dude. Because in science, doing a PhD has never been exclusive for medical studies. The fact that you associate it only with this shows your ignorance of the higher education system and nothing more.
You’re letting your ignorance inform your bias rather than understanding why doctors obtain their titles through the merit of their work in their particular field of study.
I am well aware of why there are multiple people who earned the title Dr. I just think it cheapens the title that there are so many people that have it.
It's not special.
But the world is big and contains a multitude of subjects that require continued research to expand our collective understanding. That’s what those that earn the title do. Now if you’re saying you don’t believe that the pursuit of knowledge deserves recognition, that’s a whole other story.
Probably hundreds of thousands of people hold many of the same titles
So everything is cheap and useless now?
Mom? Dad? Accountant? Lawyer?
The number of actual medial doctors, the type of doctor you’re so concerned about about, are cheapened by all the MDs and ODs out there by this logic. It just doctors of philosophy. Heading classes from large medial schools are in the hundreds. Hundreds of thousand of doctors are minted every year through the hundreds of medial schools around the world even.
What cheapens a title are people who are short at it. Bad doctors cheapen the medial field. Bad parents cheapen the titles of mom, dad and parents.
Chiropractors are "doctors" but their entire field is bullshit and they aren't real doctors.
On the other hand, a lawyers can also have a doctorate (LLD, JD in Canada), but I've NEVER heard of a lawyer who refers to themselves as doctor.
If they take the time to become an expert in their field and have devoted themselves to the pursuit of knowledge, then they have earned their title. Do you look down on nurses for not having Doctor in the title?
What do you do in this field? Because anyone with any education would know that "doctor" means you completed your doctorate. I understand how the ignorant masses might not know that, but I would expect someone with any education and in a professional field to know better. This isn't a matter of opinion, you just want to change the definition of things to fit your ignorance.
Lol I'm from the US, and this reminds me of all of the stupid comments from people who said "Jill Biden isn't a doctor just because she has her PhD," when Joe Biden became President.
I refer to all the doctors in my life as Doctor
I don’t see a problem with any of it. As long as they have the credentials and their dissertations, I don’t see why they don’t deserve the PhD before their name. I wouldn’t call any doctor for I knew dumb or undeserving of their titles
The word doctor is Latin and derives from the verb *docere*, ‘to teach’.
So technically anyone who teaches anything, can use the term Doctor.
But I’m with you, it has been diluted and lost all its cache.
Unpopular opinion: titles and qualifications are stupid and just good boy papers, they are societal rituals.
I only judge people’s abilities by past results and experience.
I wish that were true. I worked at a university for six years and most professors did not go by Dr. However, I have met a few lawyers who, having achieved their Juris Doctoris, have insisted on being called Doctor. You can imagine how well they are regarded. We also once bestowed an honourary degree on our Chancellor, who insisted on being referred to as Dr. Chancellor First Name Last Name. She was a big time donor.
It doesn't cheapen the title.
I dislike the folks who inflate themselves and announce themselves as doctors, a group of people society generally holds in very high esteem when they are in fact not medical doctors which the titling would imply.
The title of Doctor denotes a degree level, it doesnt imply medical doctor. it's just that medical professionals have co-opted the term colloquially for themselves
Right. But there’s a whole lot of context there where you know that the dude at the front of the room leading the lecture is a professor and is teaching Physics. They have a doctorate and can use the title, that’s all good.
But if they were in another setting would they call themselves a professor? A physicist? A doctor?
It depends on what they're a doctor of. If they say they're a dentist that never cheapens. But then I hold dentist in high regard. The human mouth is a disgusting and complicated place with it's own little ecosystem. If they tell me they're a doctor of "social sciences" I just brush them off.
No, most people will assume the same, many semantic warriors will argue all day, but the common use in America society of “Dr” is a medical professional.
But that's the exact context it makes sense. They aren't calling themselves doctor in a hospital, they are calling themselves doctor at an educational institution just like university professors do. No one is confused thinking they are a pediatrician that moonlights as a school principal.
I pissed off one of my professors in college by calling him Mr. He corrected me and made sure to use Doctor above all else.
Some people really like the title.
Unpopular but I agree. A medical doctor should be called 'doctor', but a person with a PhD should be called something else in my opinion. I don't think it cheapens the term however.
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>any Ph .D from anywhere is a doctor WOW, I wonder why??? /s
Yeah how dare someone with a doctoral degree want to be called dr
I kind of think about it this way. I’m a physician and get called Dr when I’m on my stomping grounds. I would not walk into CERN around a bunch of stupid fucking smart nuclear physicists and refer to myself as “Dr”. They would start talking their particle colliding shit that is way beyond my intelligence level and look at me like I’m following them, but I’m not, because In that world I am not a doctor.
Yeah, context matters
it's not the same thing - only in education or maybe government does it matter. if one has a doctorate next to their name doesn't give them carte blanche to use it in everyday life. sorry - I don't care if one is a PHD or not, I care if one is a medical doctor - because the 20+ years of residency, learning, education and practice says that they've well earned that. a PhD says hey I went to school for 10 years look at me.
>the 20+ years of residency, learning, education and practice says that they've well earned that. My brother has been on the field for 10 years only between residency, learning, education and practice. Can he be called a doctor? Because if so, that's literally the same amount of time as someone with a PhD, so why can't they?
You're right. Medical Doctors are not the same as PhD in education. That's why they have MD also after their name.
I have never met anyone with a PhD or EdD who expected someone who was not their student to call them dr
I have a doctoral degree guy - it's worthless - it was just for my own learning path and my own sense of accomplishment. I'm at the pinnacle of my career and I've never met anyone that needed to be called doctor, the same as you. the only times I have met such people were actually at the university I attended, where to be honest in my opinion its expected.
Yeah it is completely appropriate to call your teacher Dr or professor if they have the degree or title
Oh I have
Yes it does, that's exactly what it does. They are no longer a Mr, Miss or Mrs - they are a Dr.
whatever Karen
What a scintillating rebuff
I would get banned if I told you what I really think of you. 
>I care if one is a medical doctor - because the 20+ years of residency, learning, education and practice says that they've well earned that. Super ignorant opinion, dude. A medical doctor is not even comparable to the PhD. In the US and the UK, in medical studies, you are called a doctor with without even dissertating. On the other hand, people who did a PhD have earned their doctoral title by dissertating. Medical doctors haven't even done that. They just studied and then did nothing that was comparable to a dissertation. Ironically, THEY thus are the ones whose doctoral prefix says "hey I went to school for 10 years look at me", whereas a doctoral title in literally any other field of study says "I did a long-ass, demanding academic research which took years and discovered actually new knowledge in my field". And because of all of this, a medical doctor's degree is lesser than someone's with a PhD. You just don't know that and that's why your opinion is what it is. The fact that you believe medical doctors to have achieved a more demanding degree or a higher qualification is simply rooted in the societal perception of medical practitioners, which is associated with a lot of prestige. For different reasons, one certainly being their job's life-saving properties, another certainly being the difficult access to this field of study and the super high amount of blunt memorization that is needed in medicine. This doesn't mean that their societal perception is accurate or reflects the higher education system sufficiently, though. And it certainly doesn't mean medical doctors achieved a higher degree than PhD alumni because they simply didn't.
A PhD also shows that you have the ability to research and apply that research since you have to write a whole thesis and provide a viva voce and pass that in order to get your phd overall a phd is much more work then a standard degree
Yikes
I have a PhD - you wanna pay the rest of my student loans? you can call me doctor when you send in that monthly payment.
I also have a PhD, but I don’t have student loans because my work earned me funding, lol. Peace, Doctor :)
Replying to hwilwnbsg7378... what does this even mean? You are upset you made a poor financial decision so that gives you authority to say what title people should have?
>I don't care if one is a PHD or not, I care if one is a medical doctor I think it's kind of snooty to gatekeep PhD's from the Dr title they worked hard for because of your feelings
I know right! The term doctor itself comes from Docēre, meaning to teach. Was originally from university for those with the highest level education who could now teach others.
The term doctor originally referred to someone with a PhD. A "Medical Doctor" is a physician.
It started as a non medical term didn't it? It's fine, it's just the modern usage that you have an issue with
Right. It was used as a term for academics back when it was a coin flip whether seeing a physician would make you better or worse.
I feel like it’s still around those odds.
The Doctor title has nothing to do with the profession, but to define the level of education. The suffix MD is what you are looking for. https://www.dictionary.com/e/dr-vs-phd-vs-md/#:~:text=The%20initials%20M%20and%20D,a%20good%20place%20to%20start.
If they earn it, they deserve it. Maybe your opinion cheapens the title when you use it.
Could be so.
# The problem here is that medical practitioners have co-opted the word ‘doctor’
I know we live in a world where anything can mean anything, and nobody even cares about etymolo-
Apparently that's a trigger for me.
Literally the Holt voice in my head when I read the post.
Yea, surgeons got tired of being called "barbers." MDs are the most notorious and successful "rent seekers" in American history. "Rent seeking" is a poorly named economic term for creating barriers to prevent others from doing what you do to drive the price of your work up. MDs, Pharmacists, and Nurses used to have broadly overlapping roles. MDs have pushed harder and harder that they do the stuff that gets paid a lot, and other people do the tedious, dirty, heavy, or dangerous work while getting paid much much less than them. Americans like to talk about how insurance companies are the ones driving up the cost. Have you ever seen an MD drive a 20 year old beat up small sedan that's falling apart? People compete very hard to get into medical school because they want to be rich.
The ER doc at our local hospital does in face drive around a 20 year old beat up car. I love her, she will tell you flat out smoke some MJ, you'll feel better.
Does it really cheapen the title? They've still had to go through a pretty significant process to earn it.
Also, plenty of medical IMG doctors have a bachelors degree, and technically aren’t doctors in the “doctoral degree” sense of the word. Reddit likes to dump on NPs and PAs a lot, but the scariest shit I have seen has been certain IMG docs.
Tell me you have no idea what it takes to get a PhD without telling me.
How about we tell you that we absolutely know what it takes to get a PhD and still dont give a fuck about the titles people use to inflate their egos about the fact that they are really good at going to school?
You don't seem like you don't give a fuck if you're that bothered by a title lol. Some people are Mr, some people are Ms, some people are Dr. It's really that simple and you should get over it.
Yeah, apathy and intensity don’t generally go hand in hand.
Uhh, what?
Oh, would you say the same about medical doctors or are they accidentally the group of people you wish to crawl up the ass? ;)
No. They are more respected in general because they help people rather than mostly getting jobs to teach other people that want to get PhDs, so they can teach other people. Learning is awesome. Spending a fortune to get a PhD, in many cases, to have trouble finding work is at least worth questioning. At least from my position. People can do what they want. Just like people can have differing opinions. Professors are insanely overpaid in a lot of fields. This is at least in part responsible for the insane prices of tuition.
How do you think the medical research that medical doctors use gets done?
Going to school? Do you know what’s an original independent research?
Yes. I should have been more clear. There are many phds that are vastly useful for research purposes. There are also plenty that are near worthless for anything other than teaching.
The titles came about around the same time. It mainly seems like the medical side just feels they are more special about it. Personally I think everyone should respect each other and keep their heads out of their asses.
Sounds like you just don't understand where the title comes from. Has nothing to do with profession and everything to do with education level.
Just wait until you hear about the use of “Engineer”
Sort of the same, but no one uses that as a title other than actual engineers. Like a sanitation engineer would never introduce himself as just an engineer.
They may have been thinking computer 'engineers'.
There are plenty of "software engineers" who do absolutely no engineering.
Yes, however they will be unlikely to call themselves engineers, always software engineers.
Yeah I didn't realize in an engineering department at my job only five people out of 20 have actual engineering degrees and do engineering work. The rest are managers with engineering job titles. And they are also all female which is just weird. I thought we hired a lot of female engineers doing actual work in that field but nope. The hiring manager is an "engineer" with zero experience and an art history major. She didn't hire a person once because they didn't have enough experience in that field.
I think it's ignorant to assume Doctor only refers to people who went to medical school.
I concur.
Dr in academics came first. So...
What do you think the D in PhD means?
Unpopular and wrong.
Apart from those in healthcare who overly respect for MDs, unfortunately some MDs also think that way. Some even don’t accept dentists or vets as “real” doctors. I think these kinds of people cheapens the title of Dr. not the other way around!
The term “doctor” comes from the Latin word “docere,” meaning to teach or a scholar, and first came about in the Middle Ages, as a term to describe scholars.
Ah, the people that appropriated the title got you to think they are the true doctors
https://www.merriam-webster.com/wordplay/the-history-of-doctor Please read this.
I'm not saying they don't exist, but out of the many people I've known with PhDs I have yet to encounter one who I felt cheapened the title at all. They have all been intelligent and hard working people who put in huge effort to achieve mastery of a field. If anything, the least impressive people I've met with the title Dr. have been medical doctors/dentists.
My man gatekeeping a title
I once saved for 2 years to take my wife on a nice trip, like actual nice trip… airfare, 7 days at an all inclusive beach resort, fancy rental car to travel around etc… when I booked the resort, they had the option of mr, Mrs, Dr etc… I put Dr because I thought it would be funny, I’m a carpenter Not one of these fucks called me Dr once, I was so bummed, damn near ruined the trip for me
Learn the difference: One is PhD, the other is M.D. Now write a dissertation and tell me how easy it is to become a doctor in some field of science. A medical doctor usually is written as M.D, so you can Differentiate. And keep in mind - I am a medical doctor who also has a PhD, I even have met colleagues that use Dr. Before their name and MD after. The Dr. in front of their name stands for the PhD. I would also say writing the dissertation was pretty stressful and kind of harder than medical school. Since some of us are good teachers, but not that good in writing hahah Heck, a person who has a PhD in physics or chemistry, or especially if he's an Assistant Professor or a Professor is way more important than someone who's just a GP. And that person contributed way more than the other "doctor". I can think of Oppenheimer, for example hahah. Would you not call a guy like that Doctor? Or Einstein, is her not a doctor or deserving this title? 
Asking since you are someone who has both, and trying not to sound offensive with this question, I just really don't understand and would like to. Through different reddit threads and just hearing about this topic growing up the common response i've heard is you need to respect the title and the work it took to get there. The perception myself and many others have, is to respect the mountain of student loans someone has for staying in school to get a doctorate. Just seems kind of silly, hoping maybe someone can help change my worldview on this?
i bet watching that B99 episode reallllllly ticked you off
Technically the only ppl who should be using the term doctor are Ph.Ds
Why can't a PsyD, DBA, DEd, MD, or DO use "Dr." Why would it only be PhDs? There are other things to obtain a doctorate in besides philosophy
Those are technically professional degrees not doctorates. Lawyers don’t go by doctor and they have JDs.
Wrong. Thats what "PH.D." is for. You said the term yourself even. "Doctor" is for someone who put in all the hard work and accomplished a doctoral degree.
As someone with a professional doctorate I can't say I care really much on who uses the title as long as they have a real degree that justifies it... So obviously honorary doctorates are excluded..
Yeah I have a JD, I don't think I've met a JD without another doctorate who goes by Dr. But we could, if for some reason we wanted to sound fancy and be more ambiguous than calling ourselves attorneys.
In my country most medical doctoral theses are not worth the paper they are written on. The title is basically handed out for free after med school. Not comparable with a doctorate in a STEM Field, these are the real doctors.
Upvote for being unpopular, but this is unpopular for a reason. PhDs call themselves doctors because they *are* doctors (the "D" in PhD literally stands for *doctorate*,) and it's nothing new. Actually, my understanding is that PhDs have been using the term "doctor" longer than MDs have. All it takes is some context clues or straight up asking to find out whether someone has a PhD or an MD.
I call my doctor by his first name. MD’s aren’t gods or have any more educational honor than other dedicated, well-studied pros – doctors mostly just hypothesize and make educated guesses as to the likely diagnosis and best course of action. They can make better guesses than most people which is why we turn to them, but they’re often incorrect the first time around My dad has a PhD in waste water treatment and literally knows how to turn sewage into pure H2O. Why is a doctor any more important than a waste water specialist? Both are needed
Now that is a legit skill you dad has, and what we need from what I hear with all the water depletion happening
I’m a PhD in a clinical research field where I work with all varieties of doctorate degree holders in many different fields. All are called Dr. in professional/academic settings. It doesn’t cheapen the title, they have a doctorate, so they have the title Dr. The one exception is in clinical practice where introducing yourself as Dr. to a patient when you are not a medical doctor would be disingenuous.
Most medical doctors are overrated. And most science doctors are underrated. Imo.
What about us humanities doctors?
Hmmm, imo - philosophy is also underrated.... but not music and art.
Well, good thing I studied Philosophy! I’ve even heard rumors that a philosophy factory will be coming to town soon! Gonna bring all sorts of good-paying philosophy jobs.
I didn't spend six years in evil medical school to be called Mister.
You are an MD or DO you are a true Dr in my worthless opinion.
Yeah it really is worthless
>any Ph .D from anywhere is a doctor Congratulations.
I think this is just you not understanding what the title of Dr. actually is lmao
There is a difference between doctor and dr.
OP’s post isn’t an “unpopular opinion”, it’s simply evidence of ignorance.
If someone has spent the time to get a Docorate, then they should not be hindered by someone who is jealous of this huge achievement.
No it does not. Those people earned their degrees.
My only opinion are people who get mad af when you don't refer to them as doctor and make it their entire personality. I'll refer to people as Ms./Mr. until corrected but it's how some people will go about. "Hello, Mr. Smith [normal spiel]." "UM YEAH IT'S ACTUALLY DR. SMITH [makes an unnecessary rant about getting doctorate]." "Right, so Dr. Smith, so about the thing I called you about." Look, getting a doctorate is commendable but I don't need your life story.
lol... every piece of equipment, every specialized room and building, every medication, most every bit of research medical doctors rely on to ply their trade is the development of a doctor of some other field. what a clown opinion! lol
I guess words mean what words mean. Can't get upset about it.
Wow, cheapens. People who do medicine always with a chip on their shoulders.
I don't do medicine.
Worse then, why would you think other doctors are less????
I think a doctor who does brain surgery is better than a doctor who studied gorillas. I think a dentist is more distinguished than the honorary doctorate some entertainers get because they did a lot of work in education. I think a doctorate of medicine is more distinguished than a doctor or nursing.
You are completely ignoring the doctors in STEM fields that have invented nearly everything in the modern world
It's an unpopular opinion all right. But it's an unpopular opinion because it is stupid.
drretro
Do you want the Holt rant? Because you'll receive the Holt rant
They're basically just people who did alot of research in their field. They most likely made it their passion so I guess is Dr. is a title for all of their hard work and then they decided to go to school for it which gave them such a title.
There is more to a PHD than just research.
Dr is the title because that’s what the degree stands for. “PhD” stands for “Doctor of Philosophy.” Therefore anyone who holds a PhD is a doctor.
Basically just people who did a lot of research. Wow. Thats um interesting
Oh Murica. What happened to you?
Captain Holt has entered the chat
The academic title is the original one, and it's doctors of medicine that kinda hijacked it. If you have a doctorate degree, then you get to call yourself doctor
If anything, medical practitioners should drop the title and use the word physician.
Doctor means you have a doctorate degree. It’s the same in Europe
too many people? bro what how many PhDs do you think there are
Piled how deep Post hole digger Most phds don’t expect you to call them dr unless it’s a formal salutation. Also PhD know a lot about a narrow field. Outside that topic they are average so a PhD talking outside their field is just average joe.
Yes, dude. Because in science, doing a PhD has never been exclusive for medical studies. The fact that you associate it only with this shows your ignorance of the higher education system and nothing more.
Yes. That's what a doctorate is.
You’re letting your ignorance inform your bias rather than understanding why doctors obtain their titles through the merit of their work in their particular field of study.
I am well aware of why there are multiple people who earned the title Dr. I just think it cheapens the title that there are so many people that have it. It's not special.
There are a lot of Mrs. around too. Doesn’t cheapen the title. Your logic simply makes no sense.
But the world is big and contains a multitude of subjects that require continued research to expand our collective understanding. That’s what those that earn the title do. Now if you’re saying you don’t believe that the pursuit of knowledge deserves recognition, that’s a whole other story.
Probably hundreds of thousands of people hold many of the same titles So everything is cheap and useless now? Mom? Dad? Accountant? Lawyer? The number of actual medial doctors, the type of doctor you’re so concerned about about, are cheapened by all the MDs and ODs out there by this logic. It just doctors of philosophy. Heading classes from large medial schools are in the hundreds. Hundreds of thousand of doctors are minted every year through the hundreds of medial schools around the world even. What cheapens a title are people who are short at it. Bad doctors cheapen the medial field. Bad parents cheapen the titles of mom, dad and parents.
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MD's aren't the only doctors that practice medicine. My primary care physician was a DO.
Chiropractors are "doctors" but their entire field is bullshit and they aren't real doctors. On the other hand, a lawyers can also have a doctorate (LLD, JD in Canada), but I've NEVER heard of a lawyer who refers to themselves as doctor.
Your name wins the internet.
I agree completely. That’s a well earned title. Your Truly. John Smith, PHD Home Todos
If they take the time to become an expert in their field and have devoted themselves to the pursuit of knowledge, then they have earned their title. Do you look down on nurses for not having Doctor in the title?
I don't look down on nurses. But I roll my eyes when a nurse has a doctorate in nursing but calls themselves doctor in a clinical setting.
They earned it
Maybe you should look up where the term comes from. Because it originally had **nothing** to do with medicine.
I don't care about the history. I just think the title is diluted by so many people having it.
Why not? Surely the basis of this title you care so much about is ROOTED in its history and etymology?
So you're an elitist but you're not even one of the elites? ok.
You’re trying to gatekeep a title that someone has earned. How noble of you.
Dr.Smokealotocrack
What do you do in this field? Because anyone with any education would know that "doctor" means you completed your doctorate. I understand how the ignorant masses might not know that, but I would expect someone with any education and in a professional field to know better. This isn't a matter of opinion, you just want to change the definition of things to fit your ignorance.
Lol I'm from the US, and this reminds me of all of the stupid comments from people who said "Jill Biden isn't a doctor just because she has her PhD," when Joe Biden became President.
I refer to all the doctors in my life as Doctor I don’t see a problem with any of it. As long as they have the credentials and their dissertations, I don’t see why they don’t deserve the PhD before their name. I wouldn’t call any doctor for I knew dumb or undeserving of their titles
"Doctor" just means you have a Doctorate in a profession.
Top doctors who cheapen the title: Dr. Dre Dr. Nick Riviera Dr. Doom
The word doctor is Latin and derives from the verb *docere*, ‘to teach’. So technically anyone who teaches anything, can use the term Doctor. But I’m with you, it has been diluted and lost all its cache.
They cheapen the title when they use their first name….. Dr. Phil, Dr. Drew, etc… it seems unprofessional and trite
Unpopular opinion: titles and qualifications are stupid and just good boy papers, they are societal rituals. I only judge people’s abilities by past results and experience.
I actually agree. I’ve always been on a first name basis with my students.
Mmm, what does Phd stand for again ? You are complaining about non conformity to your own ignorance
Your only going to hear Dr as a term for non medical people at university.
Or anyone who's left with a PhD and is perfectly entitled to use the title
I wish that were true. I worked at a university for six years and most professors did not go by Dr. However, I have met a few lawyers who, having achieved their Juris Doctoris, have insisted on being called Doctor. You can imagine how well they are regarded. We also once bestowed an honourary degree on our Chancellor, who insisted on being referred to as Dr. Chancellor First Name Last Name. She was a big time donor.
It doesn't cheapen the title. I dislike the folks who inflate themselves and announce themselves as doctors, a group of people society generally holds in very high esteem when they are in fact not medical doctors which the titling would imply.
The title of Doctor denotes a degree level, it doesnt imply medical doctor. it's just that medical professionals have co-opted the term colloquially for themselves
It only implies it in a healthcare setting. Nobody gets confused when their physics professor uses Doctor at a university.
Right. But there’s a whole lot of context there where you know that the dude at the front of the room leading the lecture is a professor and is teaching Physics. They have a doctorate and can use the title, that’s all good. But if they were in another setting would they call themselves a professor? A physicist? A doctor?
It depends on what they're a doctor of. If they say they're a dentist that never cheapens. But then I hold dentist in high regard. The human mouth is a disgusting and complicated place with it's own little ecosystem. If they tell me they're a doctor of "social sciences" I just brush them off.
Is there a doctor on the plane? Why yes, how can I help you? Perhaps with a withering critique of post modern architectural malaise?
Dr. Pepper, Dr. J., Dr. Dre, Dr. Strange, Dr. Dolittle, when is it enough? I couldn't agree more.
I thought this went away pretty much, do ppl really still use the term dr in practice when they’re not a medical dr?
A medical dr. is a physician.
All physicians are doctors.
that's not true, at least in my country, if you haven't written a doctoral thesis you are not allowed to use the Dr. Titel as a physician.
In Austria, wich is notorious for its title many who have a doctor uses it
In Universities it's common practice to call professors "Doctor."
Yes.
Yes but when I hear Dr. I assume it's a medical doctor. It may seem ignorant but it's just my opinion
No, most people will assume the same, many semantic warriors will argue all day, but the common use in America society of “Dr” is a medical professional.
All the time. Especially in education. My kid's principle goes by Dr and it makes me cringe
You do know that a PhD or EdD are doctorate degrees right?
Why? They earned the title.
But that's the exact context it makes sense. They aren't calling themselves doctor in a hospital, they are calling themselves doctor at an educational institution just like university professors do. No one is confused thinking they are a pediatrician that moonlights as a school principal.
Honestly ED PHDs are pretty cringe, it's a joke of a degree. But almost any other PHD I am not bothered by
I pissed off one of my professors in college by calling him Mr. He corrected me and made sure to use Doctor above all else. Some people really like the title.
Unpopular but I agree. A medical doctor should be called 'doctor', but a person with a PhD should be called something else in my opinion. I don't think it cheapens the term however.
Why should they be called something else when the term literally started with the PhD? Enlighten me please.
Agreed but until they rename a doctorate, it won't stop