Originally posted by amalgam:
But until the PhD is *finished* I find the use of "Ed. D." (I assume this means Doctorate in Education) after a name to be improper, likewise the title of "Dr." before a name. I suspect researching, writing, and defending a PhD thesis is a difficult thing, one of the reasons so many graduate students do not finish.
My personal opinion is that it's irrelevant. If Ron was applying for a position at a university and misrepresented his intellectual credentials, that would be different. But lot's of people run around with the handle Doc or Dr. Back in my mechanic days, we called one of the guys I worked with Doc because of his meticulous work with Detroit Diesels.
One of the labs I worked in, we routinely called one of the technicians Dr. because of the years of research he helped with and his highest degree was a high school diploma.
But in my opinion, due to his vast experience, Ron has earned his Dr. handle, "honorary" though it may be. And I doubt Pepperdine was teaching him his wilderness survival skills. You get those from the school of hard knocks and you learn them by being there and I don't think anyone is disputing that Ron doesn't know his "stuff". If there was a doctorate for wilderness survival, Ron would have graduated in the top of the class.
Of course, if Ron really would have completed his doctorate, I'm sure he'd have come to his senses and abandoned his defense of the tanto point.
I refer you to the case of "Dr." John R. Horner, a man who also never finished his Ph.D. (due to dyslexia) yet no one disputes that he is a powerful intellectual who has had a major impact on the field of paleontology (ultimately, because of his considerable academic achievements, he received an honorary doctorate from the U. Montana).
Dr. Hoodoo, B.S. (bull$hit) and Ph.D. (piled higher and deeper)
