Word: octopus
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Dates: during 1920-1929
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...profession of teaching, an advanced degree has become almost a prerequisite. This passion for the mere letters of a degree is what William James once dubbed the "Ph.D. Octopus". Since his remark was written, a saner view has come into practice, but preference in filling professional positions still goes to the men who can boast of this advanced training...
This abuse, bad enough in itself, points to an allied evil which is one of the most serious defects in modern education, what William James in characteristic fashion variously termed the "Doctor Monopoly" and the "Ph.D. Octopus". It is the growing tendency, especially in the newer colleges, to appoint no instructors who are not also doctors of some sort or other. The college catalogue looks far more impressive when every member of the faculty has two or three magic letters after his name. The result is that a tradition is established, and any man who would obtain a desirable teaching...
Equally obvious are ways in which the "Ph.D. Octopus" may be kept in check, if applied before it is too late. If the standards were lowered, and the doctorate degree given for so much training, with the nightmare of Examination removed, a good deal of the present possibility of corruption could be eliminated. If private letters of introduction from instructors were to be substituted for the wage-earning qualities of a Ph.D., the inordinate desire for extra letters of the alphabet to place after one's name would largely disappear. Finally, if degrees were treated as secondary in importance...
Lovers of the best fiction will be glad to hear that Frank Norris is once more in print. "The Octopus" and "The Pit" have been difficult to purchase for a number of years, and undeservedly so, for we know of no more thrilling episode in the vast litter of stories about the Stock Exchange than the "Pit," Tom Lawson's "Friday the Thirteenth," a sample of "frenzied finance," strung on a thread of romance, runs it a close second, though falling short of real literature...
...shame to name a thing a "problem" in these days of thousands of "vital problems," but the octopus journalist is certainly eligible for this title. Ten million persons are said to buy his papers daily. This particular problem is to ascertain how many persons, besides Mr. Hearst, take Mr. Hearst seriously. The question is how many people are being fooled how much of the time...