TRUMP IS GONE!!!
- Thread starter BNIBoiler
- Start date
IMHO the most rigorous and arduous degrees are PhDs in physics and math because the degrees require years of study and a thesis based on ORIGINAL research. Doctor Einstein had a PhD in physics.
Yes, but not regularly. I'll answer your question, but first, a hypothetical: would a single typo on a 2-page resume cause you to eliminate someone from consideration who otherwise had good qualifications for the job?
To me, typos on a resume are a hard stop. I don't care if you have to read it, reread it, have 5 more people read it, a typo is never acceptable on a resume. It could definitely separate a couple of candidates for a position.
Why? Because first impressions count and if you're too careless about your first impression, you make lack awareness in your everyday job.
"Make lack". . . hmmmmm. Inadvertent typo, I know. Just kidding
.I agree, in principle. But a resume is different than a 130-page document. Presuming she's done good work through her doctoral program to this point, a few writing errors in a dissertation would not be enough override everything that came before. If typos were a pattern on a resume I looked at, it'd certainly say a lot about he candidate. One typo that might be easy to overlook even when appropriately proofread, may or may not be a problem if the candidate has clear qualifications. The document in question averages about .05 errors/page, which I don't think represents a pattern of carelessness. Let's say you had two candidates where one is clearly more qualified for the job, but happens to have a typo on their resume. Do you go with the less-qualified candidate because of a principled stand against typos?
Aside from all that, this is not a resume, so the standards to which resumes are held are not really relevant. I've not done much hiring, but I could ask how much evaluation of academic writing and of doctoral candidates you've done. Those criticizing her document do not have the qualifications to do so, so their criticisms carry little weight for me. I've gone through my thoughts in plenty of diatribes in this thread, so no need to rehash them here. I will, however, offer some perspectives that differ from those in the articles that criticize her work written by folks with more relevant experience on which to draw:
What Jill Biden’s Dissertation Reveals About Her Approach to Higher Education - EdSurge News
It turns out that Jill Biden, the presumptive First Lady, has thought deeply about community colleges. In fact, she wrote her dissertation at the ...
www.edsurge.com
Jill Biden's doctorate: Let's improve education instead of insulting educators | Opinion
We should not be picking on Jill Biden's education doctorate — we should be supporting educators who innovate amid the pandemic.
www.northjersey.com
“Dr.” Jill Biden Is Fine with Me.
On January 20, 2021, Jill Biden will become the first First Lady to also hold a doctoral degree in education. In Jill Biden’s case, hers is a Doctor of Education in Education Leadership from …
deutsch29.wordpress.com
On one side, opinion pieces saying her dissertation is bad which are written by film critics and lawyers. On the other, opinion pieces saying her dissertation is fine which are written by folks well-versed in education as a field and in higher ed more generally. I'm inclined to give more weight to the opinions of people who actually know something relevant than to those of people that don't. I suggest you'd do the same if someone from outside your field was criticizing your work, and that you'd be right to do so, since that person doesn't know what they're talking about.
Last edited:
If you really think you 'demonstrated' Mrs. Biden didn't make any arithmetic errors, then what you really demonstrated is (a) that you, like Mrs. B, may be mathematically illiterate, (b) your standards as an educator are so low that you think shoddy work like Mrs. B's is acceptable, or (c) a and b.
Btw, while I agree it wasn't obvious and you may well have been fooled, the previous two blue-team first ladies had the audacity to be highly educated - at least in terms of academic degrees.
The two "arithmetic" errors she is supposed to have made are 1. not intended to present actual numbers, but to give an overall picture of what an average community college class looks like (ie, she's speaking figuratively) and 2. a quote from another author. You can continue to call them arithmetic errors, but they simply aren't. If you think you can prove otherwise, be my guest, but continuing to make the claim as fact without supporting it doesn't mean anything.
The only people calling her work "shoddy" are those who wouldn't know what constitutes shoddy work in this field.
Agreed, they were highly educated, and both took their share of criticism, fair or otherwise. There was apparently no need to criticize Michelle Obama's education because her "big arms" provided all the fodder necessary. I guess folks have had to search for something else to use to tear down Biden, since she does not share this trait with Michelle Obama.
Last edited:
Hadn't heard about the big arms, but that sounds sexist and racist (as does calling a first lady a "shallow, immigrant, porn actress" - right Beth?)
A final word from me on the subject, I got curious about professional editing standards for typographical errors. I couldn't find anything definitive, but found a couple articles offering perspective from people in the business:
www.bestsellingreads.com
grammarfactory.com
The second article points out that, in a document of 150,000 characters, there could be 15 typographical errors and the whole document would still be 99.99% correct, and both articles make it clear that typos making it to print is very common in professional publishing. In 160,000+ self-edited characters, Biden's dissertation looks to contain about 5 typographical errors, so she's at 99.996875% accuracy. Seems reasonable that would be considered acceptable and it seems unreasonable that only perfection should be accepted. Given that we know no person is perfect, I'd suggest that no one in any career, even those that we would all agree deserve the title doctor, has never made a mistake, even if exceedingly small, as are Biden's typographical errors.
Anyway, I've spent enough time in this thread the last few days and I don't expect I've convinced anyone to change their mind, but, I don't really care. Criticize her education if you wish, but recognize that you may not be qualified to do so with any authority. I would not be able to critique the dissertation or education of a nuclear physicist because I don't know anything substantive about nuclear physics beyond the common understanding, so I don't.
Boiler up, all, despite the loss Friday, I'm anxious and excited for the next game!
Monday Musings: How many typos are acceptable? - BestSelling Reads
How important is the quality of editing to a reader? My first job following university was as a “production editor,” basically a copy editor, for textbook publisher Prentice-Hall. On my first day, my new boss, Richard Hemingway—I’m not kidding—was showing me the ropes, explaining the steps I was...
www.bestsellingreads.com
Why are there typos in my edited book?! | Grammar Factory Publishing
Is it acceptable to find typos in your edited book? If you've paid for a professionally-edited book, it should be word perfect, shouldn’t it? Discover how the editing process works, and when typos are okay.
grammarfactory.com
The second article points out that, in a document of 150,000 characters, there could be 15 typographical errors and the whole document would still be 99.99% correct, and both articles make it clear that typos making it to print is very common in professional publishing. In 160,000+ self-edited characters, Biden's dissertation looks to contain about 5 typographical errors, so she's at 99.996875% accuracy. Seems reasonable that would be considered acceptable and it seems unreasonable that only perfection should be accepted. Given that we know no person is perfect, I'd suggest that no one in any career, even those that we would all agree deserve the title doctor, has never made a mistake, even if exceedingly small, as are Biden's typographical errors.
Anyway, I've spent enough time in this thread the last few days and I don't expect I've convinced anyone to change their mind, but, I don't really care
. Criticize her education if you wish, but recognize that you may not be qualified to do so with any authority. I would not be able to critique the dissertation or education of a nuclear physicist because I don't know anything substantive about nuclear physics beyond the common understanding, so I don't.Boiler up, all, despite the loss Friday, I'm anxious and excited for the next game!
Last edited:
That would greatly depend on the field and the complexity of the topic. Of course non-medical professionals, for example, would not be well positioned to comment on a medical research paper.
But for a topic as simple as that of Mrs. B's executive statement, lawyers and many others would be well positioned to comment because (a) it was easy to understand without some type of 'deep' technical or scientific knowledge, and (b) the lawyers and others themselves have spent a lot of years in education as students, and so have the spouses and kids of many of them, no doubt, so they would have that experience to draw on also.
Thus, I have demonstrated that your position on this particular assertion is not sufficiently developed, further weakening your entire argument.
