Piled Higher and Deeper

May 29, 2002

by Jeremy Reynalds

Many of those who really have one, you’ve got to almost drag it out of them to make them admit it. Some of those who don’t have one disparagingly refer to it by other names such as "post hole digger, "push here dummy," or "piled higher and deeper." Sometimes those who dispense it make fun of themselves. For example. There’s even a comic strip called "Piled Higher and Deeper."

But conversely, some people who have been given one as a gift without having to work for it take the whole issue very seriously and can’t stop talking about it.

What is it? Well, in case you haven’t guessed by this time, I’m referring to a Ph.D. (or a doctor of philosophy), the highest degree awarded by any university. As Washington Post Staff Writer Linton Weeks commented in a March article; "Ahhh, Ph.D. Those ‘three magical letters,’ as William James once referred to them, used to conjure up images of musty libraries, Raleigh bicycles, sherry and tweed-hided, pipe-puffing dons chiding and guiding you through the damned thickets and thorns of scholarship to postgraduate Paradiso and a world witty and wise. Not anymore. These days, Ph.D.’s are like opinions and pie holes - pretty much everybody’s got one."

Well not exactly, unless the tone of your article is a tad bit on the cynical side, and Weeks did tend to lean that way. Headlined "You’re the Dr.; What’s as Easy as ABC, Only a Little Farther Up the Alphabet? A Ph.D." Weeks continued by quoting some unusual and even perhaps slightly bizarre examples of Ph.D. offerings and requirements. (However, I’ll be the first to admit that in some circles, the words academic and bizarre should be indissolubly linked).

Further setting the tone for his piece, Weeks wrote, "You can earn a Ph.D. ... in recreational studies at the University of Florida; in family studies at the University of New Mexico; and in fashion merchandising at Texas Women’s University. A candidate for a Ph.D. in creative writing at the University of Georgia can submit poems instead of a dissertation. At the University of Michigan you can get a Ph.D. in literature without reading Shakespeare."

I don’t know whether the examples quoted by Weeks are typical or somewhat aberrational of what’s going on in the world of academic "Ph.D - dom." But there’s no doubt after reading that mini litany of apparently dubious looking offerings and requirements, it might be tempting to write off the Ph.D. and make some more of those snide jokes for which the degree has become renowned.

However, before you do that, I hope you’ll think twice because the apparently slack academic standards talked about Weeks are not in evidence at Biola University in La Mirada, California, where I am approaching the end of my third year pursuing a Ph.D. in intercultural education. I’ve just completed all my course work and in about three weeks I’ll be taking what are referred to as the "comps" or comprehensive examinations. Let me explain a little more about the degree.

Biola’s Ph.D. in intercultural education comprises 48 hours of coursework and a 12 hour dissertation. Upon successful completion of all the courses, you then get to undergo two full days of comprehensive examinations, which in my case will test me "comprehensively" on the major theories of both education and intercultural education. To get through this examination marathon successfully entails having a pretty good knowledge of the 39-book comprehensive exam reading list. That will comprise three out of the four questions.

Additionally, the final question on the comps involves my degree speciality, which for me will deal with informal education, the media and the homeless. The reading of about another 20 books is required to successfully navigate this segment of the exam.

So perhaps not surprisingly, for the last three months or so, I have read ... and read ... and read. Books accompany me to bed, in the car, on the plane, in the shower, to the office and any other place where I think I might find a few spare minutes to read. I dream about progressive education, Dewey, Freire, Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences, Giroux, about whether the most important aspect of education is the process or the product and a whole host of other educationally related topics. This is without doubt the most academically challenging undertaking I have ever done in my life.

Successfully passing the comps will then allow me to continue on to start my dissertation which entails, under the direction of a faculty advisor and a committee, the initiation and completion of some new facet of research. In other words, I am supposed to be adding to the body of knowledge in my academic discipline. Once the dissertation is completed and successfully defended then I will finally achieve the coveted (by some) Ph.D.

So if you think that standards have been lowered for Ph.D.’s and you’re tempted to dismiss the validity of the degree, while that may be the truth for some or even most academic institutions in the country it’s definitely not so for Biola. As I write, the "comps" on June 18 and June 20 are looming like the Sword of Damocles ever closer, and I say unashamedly that along with the other 10 or so of us taking the exams this year at Biola, we need your prayers. Ph.D.’s are not an easy catch at Biola University.