Doctors and dead dogmas in AP style
When was the last time that you truly questioned a rule?
I’m not talking about saying that you think that a rule is stupid or pointless or that you hate abiding by it. I mean giving truly meaningful brain time as to why a rule is there, and what is the reasoning behind the rule? Why do you continue to follow it? Is it really that wrong not to wait for that red light to turn green at 3:30 a.m. when you seriously have to go right now?!
In the course of writing one of my articles recently, I asked myself this very question about a set of rules that we at The Advocate abide by called the Associated Press Style Guidelines.
According to AP Style, the only individuals who warrant the use of the style Dr. as a prefix are medical doctors. All other individuals who hold doctorate level degrees (e.g. Doctor of Psychology , Doctor of Philosophy, Juris Doctor) are entitled only to use post nominal letters such as Psy.D., PhD, JD.
My initial reaction was indignation. What makes medical professionals more worthy of the respect that the title Dr. commands? Why are they the only ones whom we should refer to as “Doctor” in our writing and speech? Do the accomplishments of a philosophy or a literature “doctor” merit less recognition? Have they somehow contributed less or unequally? Why was this determination made?
Ultimately, instead of confirming my theory that it is some system of control (which it probably is,) I stumbled upon a much deeper realization. The rules that are adopted to govern our behaviors are ever only voluntary. Some exist for convenience, others for safety, and yet others still, for no good reason at all. Hence, I will carry on referring only to members of the medical community as “Doctor” if for no other reason than to simply avoid confusion.
I encourage you, also, to question your rules, your values, and your beliefs deeply and sincerely. Only by doing this for yourself will you truly understand and experience what you believe in a way that is real and meaningful to you. There is no substitute for reflection, and a living truth is usually preferable to a dead dogma.
Actually, there’s a perfectly logical reason for referring only to medical doctors as “Dr.” Most of the rules in the AP Style Guide exist for clarity. Because most people reading an article will assume “Dr.” means medical doctor unless it is further explained, you should not use it to refer to people with academic doctoral degrees unless the context is absolutely clear.
From the 2015 AP Style Guide:
“If appropriate in the context, Dr. also may be used on first reference before the names of individuals who hold other types of doctoral degrees. However, because the public frequently identifies Dr. only with physicians, care should be taken to ensure that the individual’s specialty is stated in the first or second reference. The only exception would be a story in which the context left no doubt that the person was a dentist, psychologist, chemist, historian, etc.”