A Future First Lady’s Title: Jill’s ‘Dr.’ Designation THE ISSUE:
A column criticizing Jill Biden for using the title “Dr.” to denote her doctorate in education.
Jill Biden is certainly within her rights to call herself “doctor” — but only in an academic setting (“Team Biden’s Cynical Identity-Politics Game,” Paul Gigot, PostOpinion, Dec. 14).
Elsewhere, it may be considered misleading and even deceptive to call yourself a “doctor.”
I was at a Broadway performance of “Wicked” when the lead actress, Idina Menzel, fell through a trap door and injured herself. The curtain came down and a voice boomed out: “Is there a doctor in the house?” (I felt like I was in an Alfred Hitchcock movie.)
Certainly, nobody expected a doctor of education to come running to the stage. Let’s be careful about flinging around the moniker “doctor” where it doesn’t belong.
Shel Townsend
Glen Cove
Gigot’s column defending Joseph Epstein’s takedown of Dr. Jill Biden was quite surprising.
Besides the absurdity of criticizing our future first lady for using her well-earned title, Epstein inserted the derogatory term “kiddo” to speak of this very accomplished woman. That was uncalled for, inappropriate and downright disgraceful.
Disrespect toward future, former or present first ladies is uncalled for and in very bad taste. Nancy Nadrich Queens Village
Congratulations to Paul Gigot for putting the Biden team in its place.
The team’s rabid reaction to what appeared to be a non-issue raised in Epstein’s column should serve as a reminder of what’s in store for the American people over the next four years.
Obviously the Biden
team is so thin-skinned and so overly sensitive to any commentary that is not fawning over them, which is why all members of the mainstream media are officially on notice that they will face the same repercussions should they report any perceived slight or criticism of anyone on the Biden team.
If the that team became so insulted over an innocent Epstein column, imagine how it would react if it were subject to the same media attacks that President Trump endured for four years.
J.J. Crovatto Ramsey, NJ
I agree with Joseph Epstein. There’s a old adage pertaining to the use of “doctor”: If it’s a medical doctorate, the title can be used in public. If not, it’s acceptable to use in academic settings.
In my opinion, common sense calls for limiting the use of “doctor.” If I’m in medical need and a holler goes out for a doctor, I don’t want the individual stepping up to tell me: “I before e, except after c.”
Francine Abell College Park, MD
“Dr.” Biden’s complaint about Joseph Epstein’s lack of deference for her credential is typical of people in the field of education.
The lack of respect that educrats get is richly deserved by men and women alike — sexism is not the issue — as the field is a swamp of psychobabble.
Many of the most glaring failures of American education are directly attributable to the schools that award these fundamentally meaningless certificates, which are of little or no value in the classroom.
David Rabinovitz
Brooklyn
Jill Biden has a doctorate in education. Her title is Jill Biden, Ed.D., and nothing more.
When you are bleeding on the street, no one says “get me to a doctor of education.” Everything about the Bidens is nothing but sugar-coated nonsense. Wayne Galvin
Lynbrook
My cousin graduated from the Boston University School of Medicine and was chief resident at Albany Medical College and had a successful private practice for many years. He is a doctor.
Many colleges offer honorary doctorates to their alumni or others who distinguish themselves in some area of study, research or accomplishment. Again, they are not medical doctors.
I have great respect for those academics who achieve the highest accolades for their studies and research, but some try to make their accomplishment appear more prestigious than it is. Jill Biden, Ed.D., is not a doctor. Ray Starman
Niskayuna