Anonymous wrote:It’s not soft vs hard science. It’s education (Ed D) vs everything else.

Not Engineering. Nobody cares if you have a PhD. It's just a big waste of time or maybe you just can't deal with the real world and need to stick with books.

An Ed D is generally considered less challenging than PhD programs.

Otherwise, there aren't hierarchies among the disciplines, as far as I know. There are biases against some disciplines within others (ex: some economists look down on qualitative social scientists like historians or some political scientists), but those are esoteric, internal academic pissing contests.

Of course, disciplines that bring more money into schools tend to have higher-paid faculty, but that's an issue of university prioritization more than whether people respect the rigor of the degree.

There are any awful lot of BS Education programs out there. An Ed D is NOT the same as a PhD. The emphasis is on practical, applied knowledge rather than the creation of new knowledge.
A lot of schools have a dumbed down curriculum for the Ed D majors -- an easier statistics course. I've seen universities where there is a rigid template for the Ed D "dissertation" where there is a great deal of hand holding (i.e. In this section, explain why you chose your variables). Lots of schools crank out a phenomenal number of Ed D degrees every year, as opposed to more selective PhD degrees where an advisor can decide how many to take on and can be highly selective in terms of who they decide to supervise.

In America in general however there is a devaluing of the PhD and Ed D as a credential because of all the online diploma mills which have no quality control. Many of them take all of the applicants, and allow people to take and retake courses that they fail multiple times, don't actually have comprehensive exams, and don't actually care WHO writes the dissertation as long as it's submitted.

I interviewed with one of those places a while ago just to see what they were offering and they admitted that people like third world dictators will assign a staff member to take all the courses and write the dissertation, so that the wealthy autocrat can claim to be a 'doctor'.

The whole educational sham is starting to be like the last days of the former Soviet Union when everyone was an 'engineer', and people had multiple graduate degrees but there were no jobs and no money. Everyone in America seems to have bought into this myth that more education will increase wages when in many professions there are nearly no good paying jobs.

Its nearly impossible to fail an education Phd program.

All other programs cull at least half.

Anonymous wrote:I have a PhD in Organic Chemistry. Of the 20 students who started with me, ony 5 finished with a PhD after 8 years. It was grueling, to say the least. There is no way any doctorate in education is in the same league. Apples and oranges.

I wouldn't use drop out rate as a marker of quality. If that's the case, then a humanities doctorate is way harder.

Some programs are more challenging than others. That's just a fact.

I have a PhD in Organic Chemistry. Of the 20 students who started with me, ony 5 finished with a PhD after 8 years. It was grueling, to say the least. There is no way any doctorate in education is in the same league. Apples and oranges.

Anonymous wrote:I think it's because that most people believe that with enough time, anyone can get a PhD in Education, but not everyone will be able to slog through a PhD in a hard science because of their own intellectual limitations.

You know this.

+1

Only people who don't have PhDs have an intense interest in ranking PhDs. Anyone whose actually completed one has respect for the process and wouldn't be so flippant.

It’s not soft vs hard science. It’s education (Ed D) vs everything else.

I think it's because that most people believe that with enough time, anyone can get a PhD in Education, but not everyone will be able to slog through a PhD in a hard science because of their own intellectual limitations.

You know this.

Anonymous wrote:I think it is because one has real world implications and can change society.

I think it is because one has real world implications and can change society.

For example:

Why is an Education Ph.D NOT as respected compared to a Biomedical Ph.D?

Or a History Ph.D compared to a psychology PH.D?


People tend to be more impressed with someone who has a heavy science

PH.D compared to social science of humanities one. Why?..

is it because anyone in heavy science can do a humanities one or social science one
yet the ones in the softer or humanities one can’t do a heavy Ph.D?