Dropping the "Dr." appellation?

 I read this article.

My thoughts? I think it is up to whoever is introducing someone to determine whether or not use their appellations. Obviously, it is a sign of respect to use the ones desired by the person in question, so long as they legitimately have a right to it.

However, I disagree with a lot of the justification. For instance, claiming that the value of a doctoral degree has been lessened over the years or that one might be justified in dropping the label for non-medical degrees.

Firstly, while college degrees in general may have declined in prestige, this really ends at baccalaureate degrees. Masters and Ph.D degrees are still very much a challenging thing to attain and require a huge investment in both time and money. Anyone who tells you otherwise is very likely not the holder of an advanced degree or knows many people who went through the process.

I don't have one. But, I know many who do. A few medical, but more in math. These were all smart people who easily obtained their bachelor's degrees. And every one of them will attest to how much more challenging even something as "simple" as a Master's degree is. And everyone will tell you how they worked for months on their thesis. Writing it, re-writing it and defending it.

In fact, I would say that a medical degree is actually likely easier to obtain than a non-medical degree. There is a higher output and a higher need for doctoral graduates in medical sciences. So, they have dedicated schools and programs. It is more formulaic.

Also, in defence of not dropping the moniker is the fact that a Ph.D (that which makes one a "Doctor") literally means that you are a "Doctor of Philosophy". A bit of a vestige of a bygone age. But, simply put, there isn't much in the way of historical basis in restricting use of the title to the field of medicine. It is really just that we largely associate it with medical professionals because that is the most likely place you'll encounter them. Almost everyone has a reason to encounter a medical doctor during their life and there are more of them.

That being said, there is a case for dropping the title in many situations. For instance, I often see people talking about medical topics, using the "Dr." prefix, when they are either not a medical doctor at all, or not a medical doctor in the field in which they are commenting.

This sort of usage is misleading.

I don't particularly care if Jill Biden is referred to as Dr. Jill Biden. However, I would agree that if she were talking in an educational capacity and the topic was not within the field in which she received her doctorate that it would be better to omit it in those cases.

Also, vigorously defending the demand to drop the "Dr." title in this case is risky. The argument that it is standard practice at their organization to drop it for non-medical professionals is likely to lead to exposure of cases where it wasn't dropped, thus exposing bias or perhaps just carelessness.