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Why Do Colleges Give Honorary Degrees?

priceonomics.com

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Re: Why Do Colleges Give Honorary Degrees?

#61

Post by coldtea »

rdc12 wrote: post #54
jacquesm wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It started as a way to recognized important contributions to a field outside of the academic process.

The article that started this conversation, completely disagrees with you, and they cite the historical record of the early honorary degrees.

One example of an early honorary degree (the one the authors of said article probably found with a quick search in Wikipedia) doesn't capture the practice through the centuries, nor how it was established and used in other countries.

There's a difference between "first" and "representative of how a thing caught-on and came to be established and practiced" -- the first uses might not be representative of neither the reason for widespread adoption nor current use.

There are countries whose universities need (and do) no marketing at all otherwise, because they are public and state sponsored, but still give honorary degrees to honour important contributors from outside the academic field.

Re: Why Do Colleges Give Honorary Degrees?

#62

Post by coldtea »

animefan wrote: post #17
vladmk wrote: post #15

Do you think the guy who invented college went to college? Nope. It's obviously degrees are bullshit, one day I hope people learn that.

Is this a serious comment? Do you believe that there is literally a "guy who invented college".

Yes, there's IS literally a "guy who invented college"...

"An academy is an institution of secondary education or higher learning, research, or honorary membership. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 385 BC at Akademia (...) north of Athens, Greece".

This has been the early prototype for later roman, middle-ages, renaissance and finally modern colleges.

It wasn't the first teacher or even school were children were taught, but it was the first higher learning institution, with organized courses and mostly modern form.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_higher-learning_instit...

Comparing it to the "guy who invented language"? As if it's something communally developed, whose origins are lost in prehistoric times? Really?

Re: Why Do Colleges Give Honorary Degrees?

#63

Post by rdancer »

Oh, Priceonomics, always looking for a slightly ham-fisted angle!

I am very much looking forward to gaining a degree from some fringe yet accredited online university, and everybody who cares about that sort of thing will have to address me as 'Dr.' Precisely because caring too much about letters before and after one's name is asinine, vapid, and ultimately delusional.

Strive to be the best person you can be. And if you really want a better seat, why not embrace your inner arsehole fully, and get a disability badge?

Re: Why Do Colleges Give Honorary Degrees?

#64

Post by crazysaem »

spacecowboy_lon wrote: post #52
lordnacho wrote: post #41

It's just a way to get some press and maybe some money as well. I doubt anyone would be fooled by the title. I went to Oxford, and the arts undergrads there can get an MA OXON 7 years after matriculation (arts courses are generally 3 years, and you don't do anything other than send in a form to get the Master's). I doubt anyone confuses it with the MEng that I got. Using the title is a poncey thing. The last time I r…

I think Germans still place a lot of importance on titles and they still have formal and informal ways of referring to people Du vs Tu

Did you mean "Du vs Sie"? If not, what do you mean with "Tu"? I've never heard of that.

Re: Why Do Colleges Give Honorary Degrees?

#66

Post by lordnacho »

crazysaem wrote: post #64
spacecowboy_lon wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think Germans still place a lot of importance on titles and they still have formal and informal ways of referring to people Du vs Tu

Did you mean "Du vs Sie"? If not, what do you mean with "Tu"? I've never heard of that.

Looks like he's mixed German and French.

Re: Why Do Colleges Give Honorary Degrees?

#67

Post by reuven »

PvsNP_ZA wrote: post #44
vacri wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> And yes, I have a PhD, on which I worked for 11 years, at great cost to myself and my family. Stallman's work hasn't entailed great effort, long years, and costs to himself and loved ones? As you say, a PhD is more about elbow-grease than intellect, but Stallman has that in spades - not only about the philosophy he espouses, but also that he personally created so much of the GNU environment that we take for granted…

I don't think Stallman would submit his work for a PhD, mainly because one's PhD work becomes the property of the university. It's against everything he stands for.

So what you're saying is that Stallman doesn't like the way in which universities work -- so he gets to make his own rules, and claim that he's equivalent to someone who did play by the rules?

I defended my dissertation, and then spent another six weeks editing and revising it in order to be accepted by my advisor and committee. If I hadn't spent those six weeks editing, and declared that their rules were unfair, and stopped right there, then it would be dishonest to say that I had finished my PhD. (And I should note that six weeks of editing is very little compared to what I've heard other people do.)

If you say that you have a PhD, you're saying that you followed the rules at an institution. Stallman is an impressive person by any measure, but he hasn't followed those rules, and is thus being disingenuous to use the title.

Re: Why Do Colleges Give Honorary Degrees?

#68

Post by deong »

coldtea wrote: post #60
tanderson92 wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

An earned undergraduate degree is not an 'honorary degree'.

No, but it's a "degree", and she has that university covered too, degree-wise, which is what he means.

But the quote explicitly says "honorary degree". She doesn't have an honorary degree from Cornell.

Re: Why Do Colleges Give Honorary Degrees?

#69

Post by deong »

coldtea wrote: post #61
rdc12 wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The article that started this conversation, completely disagrees with you, and they cite the historical record of the early honorary degrees.

One example of an early honorary degree (the one the authors of said article probably found with a quick search in Wikipedia) doesn't capture the practice through the centuries, nor how it was established and used in other countries. There's a difference between "first" and "representative of how a thing caught-on and came to be established and practiced" -- the first uses might not be representative of neither the r…

And the very same article addresses that point as well. From the first one granted in the 15th century to the most recent granted a few months ago, honorary degrees are extremely highly correlated with the important contribution the individual made to the university's coffers, or secondarily to people whose names lend some sort of beneficial aspect to the university. I just looked up my doctoral university's list of awardees, and by coincidence, wouldn't you know that one of their names is on the college of business and another on the relatively newly formed institute of technology. What are the odds? :)

Re: Why Do Colleges Give Honorary Degrees?

#70

Post by Guyag »

seanmcdirmid wrote: post #10

Honorary degrees is a cheap way of increasing prestige by associating the university with someone who already has prestige.

Except when I see universities here which are poorly ranked giving honorary degrees to famous comedians it just seems ridiculous and doesn't make me think any better of the establishment. If anything it seems needy.
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