Just an EdD from a State University – radical eyes for equity

Just an EdD from a State University – radical eyes for equity

Just an EdD from a State University

Several years ago I was on a panel for a public forum held on my university’s campus. At the Q&A ending the panel talk, a colleague from another discipline asked a detailed question grounded in their discipline.

I watched their face and eyes as I navigated not only the arcane and somewhat navel-gazing elements of the question (we academics love to hold forth with questions that are thinly veiled opportunities to hear ourselves talk) but also that this conversation between the two of us was almost entirely alienating for 75% of the audience, which included several of my students.

Referencing key scholars from my colleague’s field, I did a bit better than hold my own—although I just have an EdD from a state university.

Because of the lingering Jill Biden controversy—using “Dr.” with people holding doctorates and working as professors—the public has been exposed to the ugliness surrounding and within the academy that includes classism (one detractor of Jill Biden clearly also disrespects community college students), sexism (the original swipe at Jill Biden that isn’t even thinly veiled misogyny), and degree stigmas (even in this excellent rebuttal of all the nonsense tossed at Jill Biden, the EdD is framed as a lesser degree).

My journey to academia and an advanced, terminal degree (EdD in Curriculum and Instruction) began in junior college after I left high school an avid math/science student set on majoring in physics (one of the most prestigious CONTINUE READING: Just an EdD from a State University – radical eyes for equity

The Lower Realities of Higher Education – radical eyes for equity

The Lower Realities of Higher Education – radical eyes for equity

The Lower Realities of Higher Education

I posted a fairly tame Tweet about the Wall Street Journal‘s recent Op-Ed attacking Jill Biden using “Dr.” and editorial doubling-down on negative responses to the Op-Ed (none of which I will link here):

The Tweet attracted conservatives with ten’s of followers, most of them misreading the Tweet and many of them attacking me for being an academic/professor (the typical snarky references to Marx, etc.) as well as being in the field of education (my university affiliation and doctorate, an EdD, are part of my Twitter bio and handle—although several Twits thought they were outing me in some way for these public facts).

While I am enormously privileged, I share with Jill Biden the paradox of holding a doctorate in an often marginalized field, education; when I attained my EdD in the mid-1990s, it was still a much lesser degree than a PhD—and remains well down the hierarchy of academic credentials since education is often CONTINUE READING: The Lower Realities of Higher Education – radical eyes for equity

About that PhD. – Fred Klonsky

About that PhD. – Fred Klonsky

ABOUT THAT PHD.

With all the crises facing folks these days, some may wonder about why the hell are we talking about Jill Biden and her title as a doctor?

The Wall Street Journal, which published the original op-ed piece by Joseph Epstein, doubled down. Top WSJ editor Paul Gigot complained about critics of the column playing the gender card.

Whatever that is.

Dr. Biden has earned her title. She plans to continue to teach at a community college.

But what would be a shame is if the moment was lost to ask what exactly the Biden administration has planned for secondary education, student debt, junior colleges, adjunct pay and job protection?

Over 70% of U.S. instructors in higher education are adjuncts or never-to-be CONTINUE READING: About that PhD. – Fred Klonsky