Confusion by Degrees

Most people know that college degrees include bachelor's, master's and doctor's, but they get lost in the abbreviations. No wonder, reported the U.S. Office of Education last week. In a 324-page book that must have required the toughest translating job since Linear B, the bureau reported that the nation's colleges and universities now issue more than' 1,600 degrees (v. about 60 in 1887), and the system is "chaotic."

Confusion comes largely from new variations of the standard degrees, notably in engineering (348), education (256) and business (176). The agricultural Bachelor of Science comes in 31 variations, including Agricultural Journalism, Rural Sociology and the puzzling Bachelor of Science in Agriculture and Naval Science. Other degrees are aliases for the same course of study. Example: Master of Engineering, Master of Engineering Sciences, Master of Science in Engineering and--redundancy triumphant--Master of Science in Engineering Science.

Some 2,600 abbreviations compound the confusion. The Bachelor of Science in Home Economics is known as B.S. in H.E., B.S. in H.Ec., B.S. in H.Econ., B.S. in Home EC. and B.S. in Home Econ. At the other extreme, M.E. stands for Master of Education, Master of Elements, Master of Engineering, Mechanical Engineer, Military Engineer, Mining Engineer and Mistress of English. Reverse the letters, and a man becomes an Engineer of Mines.

Though the breed proliferates, some die out. Among the 800 degrees no longer in use are Maid of Arts and Mistress of Polite Literature--used in the 19th century when it seemed unseemly for women to be Bachelors. Gone also are Bachelor of Beauty Culture and Doctor of the More Humane Letters. Somebody also abolished the Bachelor of Both Laws (canon and civil) and the Doctor of Either Law (same meaning).

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