Margaret Sultan passes along the story of East St. Louis Senior High School principal Ethel Shanklin, who has been referring to herself as “Dr. Shanklin” for two years. It turns out, she only completed a two-year “education specialist” degree which she thought was a doctorate.
Shanklin said, “I don’t have a piece of paper stating that I have a doctorate,” but insisted during a telephone interview last week that what she received from SIUE allows her to refer to herself as “doctor.” She said her salary is not based on having a doctorate.
[District 189 Superintendent Theresa] Saunders said after investigating, she believes Shanklin was confused and did not intend to deceive. “There was no intended deception,” Saunders said, and, referring to imprisoned multibillion dollar swindler Bernard Madoff, “There was not deception like Madoff. Nothing like that.”
I would submit that someone who spent that many years obtaining degrees from a college of education claiming that they don’t understand that a certificate program isn’t a doctorate is either too stupid or too corrupt to be a high school principal. Your mileage may vary.
