Hi On Wed, 31 Oct 2001, Payam Heidary wrote: > There are people who hold Ph.D.'s who are not > qualified to be college professors just like there are > people with Master's degree who are not qualified. > What makes you qualified and what should determine > your pay is NOT which TYPE of degree you hold (MA vs. > Ph.D.) but instead what you put into getting the > degree (QUALITY of the degree) while you were working > to earn it. For example, there are people who have > published more and have more teaching experiences with > a Master's degree than some people do with Ph.D.'s. > This is what I mean about the QUALITY rather than the > TYPE of degree that really matters. This is another > big MYTH in our field about types of degrees > mattering.
The difference between MA and PhD is not a difference in type. It is a difference in level. Just as the MA is a more advanced degree than the BA, the PhD is a more advanced degree than the MA. The existence of exceptions to a correlation does not negate the existence of a correlation. I would certainly not denigrate your achievements by saying that the average person with a BA could do the same job as the average person with an MA (and would probably do it for even less money). The same should be appreciated about the achievements of those who went on to complete a PhD (with some exceptions, as you noted). To not even value the distinctions between no degree, BA, MA, and PhD is to discredit the very thing that we are trying to impart to students ... i.e., an increasingly demanding level of education. As a final comment on this point, many institutions, my own included, will _not_ be considering people without PhDs for regular, full-time positions, which considerably reduces potential positions for people with doctorates, even if the purse-strings were opened up a lot. Best wishes Jim ============================================================================ James M. Clark (204) 786-9757 Department of Psychology (204) 774-4134 Fax University of Winnipeg 4L05D Winnipeg, Manitoba R3B 2E9 [EMAIL PROTECTED] CANADA http://www.uwinnipeg.ca/~clark ============================================================================ --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
