Honorary degrees is a cheap way of increasing prestige by associating the university with someone who already has prestige.
Exactly. Another form of brand marketing. I do wonder how/when these started.
Why Do Colleges Give Honorary Degrees?
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Re: Why Do Colleges Give Honorary Degrees?
#22There should be a distinction between an "honorary" degree awarded because a "real" one would be superfluous (Richard Stallman, Increase Mather, etc) and those awarded because of donations or co-branding.
Why do you think Stallman's honourary degree would be superfluous, because you like him?
Emacs or GCC alone are more impressive chunks of work than many Ph.D theses I've seen, if they were given a prettier write-up.
But besides that, it's like giving a Th.D to St. Paul - GNU & free software in general is the reason a huge chunk of software and resulting work exists at all. An honorary degree doesn't really convey the scale of the accomplishment.
Re: Why Do Colleges Give Honorary Degrees?
#23Earlier quoted context omitted.
Stallman is a hugely influential person. He has contributed a great deal to the world of free software. And giving him an honorary degree is a great thing, demonstrating his many accomplishments. But it still really bugs me that he calls himself a PhD, and asks for the title "Dr." (And yes, I have a PhD, on which I worked for 11 years, at great cost to myself and my family. So feel free to take my comments with a gra…
Yeah, as a UVA grad I didn't realize they didn't give honorary degrees, but I think their approach of giving "medals" instead is the right one. Also, even if you are Richard Stallman or Maya Angelou, demanding to be called "Dr" due to an honorary degree is just lame.
Demanding to be called Doctor is lame.
Re: Why Do Colleges Give Honorary Degrees?
#24Honorary degrees is a cheap way of increasing prestige by associating the university with someone who already has prestige.
Exactly. Another form of brand marketing. I do wonder how/when these started.
It started as a way to recognized important contributions to a field outside of the academic process.
Re: Why Do Colleges Give Honorary Degrees?
#25Honorary degrees is a cheap way of increasing prestige by associating the university with someone who already has prestige.
Exactly. Another form of brand marketing. I do wonder how/when these started.
> I do wonder how/when these started.
This article should answer your question. It was recently posted (har har har) in HN:
http://priceonomics.com/why-do-colleges-give-out-honorary-de...
Re: Why Do Colleges Give Honorary Degrees?
#26Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yeah, as a UVA grad I didn't realize they didn't give honorary degrees, but I think their approach of giving "medals" instead is the right one. Also, even if you are Richard Stallman or Maya Angelou, demanding to be called "Dr" due to an honorary degree is just lame.
Demanding to be called Doctor is lame.
But when I, as someone without a PhD, says it they will say I just don't understand.
Re: Why Do Colleges Give Honorary Degrees?
#27[1]Richard P. Feynman: Dear George, Yours is the first honorary degree that I have been offered, and I thank you for considering me for such an honor. However, I remember the work I did to get a real degree at Princeton and the guys on the same platform receiving honorary degrees without work—and felt an "honorary degree" was a debasement of the idea of a "degree which confirms certain work has been accomplished." It…
"I don't like honors"
Re: Why Do Colleges Give Honorary Degrees?
#28There should be a distinction between an "honorary" degree awarded because a "real" one would be superfluous (Richard Stallman, Increase Mather, etc) and those awarded because of donations or co-branding.
Stallman is a hugely influential person. He has contributed a great deal to the world of free software. And giving him an honorary degree is a great thing, demonstrating his many accomplishments. But it still really bugs me that he calls himself a PhD, and asks for the title "Dr." (And yes, I have a PhD, on which I worked for 11 years, at great cost to myself and my family. So feel free to take my comments with a gra…
> 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 these days. The work Stallman has done in his field exceeds that required of a PhD, and he has spent decades defending his thesis - and not just to experts in the field, but laypeople as well.
When push comes to shove, 'doctor' functionally means 'a master the field'. Stallman definitely is that. I think if you want to argue against honorary PhDs based on workload and execution, Stallman is not someone you would want to draw attention to. Otherwise you're basically arguing that the important part is the piece of paper and the process of red-tape, not the accomplishment of mastery.
Re: Why Do Colleges Give Honorary Degrees?
#29Do you think the guy who invented college went to college? Nope. It's obviously degrees are bullshit, one day I hope people learn that.
I agree that degrees are overrated as a way of assessing ones ability to fulfill a job, but to claim they're bullshit is pushing it.
In an ideal world degrees would be about learning a subject to a greater depth, without the current mess of every job requiring a degree (any degree), so kids by default go to university and study something they have a vague interest in.
A degree is a fantastic thing for some people, it can reinforce a passion for their field, and in the best cases give them the tools to discover new things for humanity.
Re: Why Do Colleges Give Honorary Degrees?
#30Earlier quoted context omitted.
Stallman is a hugely influential person. He has contributed a great deal to the world of free software. And giving him an honorary degree is a great thing, demonstrating his many accomplishments. But it still really bugs me that he calls himself a PhD, and asks for the title "Dr." (And yes, I have a PhD, on which I worked for 11 years, at great cost to myself and my family. So feel free to take my comments with a gra…
Yeah, as a UVA grad I didn't realize they didn't give honorary degrees, but I think their approach of giving "medals" instead is the right one. Also, even if you are Richard Stallman or Maya Angelou, demanding to be called "Dr" due to an honorary degree is just lame.
My favourite professor said that the only use for his 'Dr' was for getting a good seat table when making a reservation at a restaurant. It doesn't make your work or your opinions magically better, and there are plenty of clueless PhDs out there.
Besides, demanding any honourific is lame - proof of this is in the honorifics for politicians. :)