Having one, I always thought that "the PhD" should be pronounced as pretentiously as possible ("Philosophiae Doctor") to make fun of the concept of spending 4-6+ years putsuing potentially esoteric research projects. Having a master gives one a way cooler title that people cannot grasp: "Scientiae Magister/Artium Magister" or "Magister Scientiae/Magister Artium". This is the pinnacle of snoot, and just means "teacher", which is totally cool to go around expounding baselessly on stuff.
But here's the kicka$$ down-low: you also get more and more nifty hats and robes as you accrue degrees and honor society elections, and EVEN RINGS that show you level of education, allowing you to run around and between cars, pretend to be an OG wizard fighting evil in rush hour traffic if you get some flash paper, some magnesium, and a long stick.
I mean, since this isn't the 1900s-1980s, PhDs today strike me as unimpressive and I've seen a palate of folks go for them over 20 years, including me (undergrad, U Chicago, 1998-2002, got some BAMF in Chemistry award; Research Technician, 2002-3, got jumped by reality; The Scripps Research Institute, 2003-2006, M.Sc., non-terminal masters as I went toe to toe with lousy people, lost, and was terminal; Pharma, 2007-2009, the recession; 2010-2011, USC, more Technician stuff for less money; USC, PhD in Pharmacology, 2011-2017, 2017-18, Admiral Beneath Middle C, the Kitchen, the Couch, the Bed, and Dominion over pets).
Here's the kicker: so what? A PhD won't do the same thing as it did 20-30 years ago, and it really has to do with the individual to do something profound and respect. I'm dumb as a post, yet I got one. Rosalind Franklin was a superstar and she had one, and then died for her science. I had hamburger today. Caveat Emptor.
This is not directed at anyone or anyone's parents or anyone else, but true intellect pops up without wizarding wear. In fact, I have found PhD programs to be mostly political, today. Hence the three advisors at USC: #1 didn't get tenure, which is a signal to run and get a new gig, which I did, and he didn't like that I would not get keelhauled as he went beneath the waves and spoke ill of me as far as he could and took my name off of some papers; #2 was highstrung and an itty bitty peacock with a great bark, no bite, a big bank account, and personal connections in the academic hierarchy that supposed were reinforced financially (it sucked; I was 3 months from graduating on a second life, and I got dumped because of ego and me toeing the legalities he was crossing); #3 let me drink tequila in mt office and do chemistry to the entire Roth-era Van Halen catalogue in a t-shirt, so long as I brought results. I did. I am now a freaking wizard and an Admiral Beneath Middle C.
The issue here that I allude to is that both times in a graduate program, there was so much malarkey that would never fly in a small business or customer service, which is where I set the bar for efficiency. Being an assistant Professor and kissing your graduate student on the lips, in public, next to the Korean restaurant where I am sneaking out for lunch A MILE FROM SCHOOL, after having just become a father, and then coming over to basically say "AND YOUDS ANIMALS DIDN'T SEE NOTHING, YA HERE?!", is totally hack. And that's the environment in which PhDs today are trained and degrees conferred. So...check the vintage, y'all, and one of us wizardin' folk says something, vet it like it's a sick cat and take them to the mat. Heck, with all of the Federal and private funding in science and other venues going to make PhDs affordable (prior to recent events), YOU PAID FOR IT!
Git you some, because when certain PhDs became free to get, assuming you could hack it, we basically have a debt to society, frankly. Sooo...Gryffindor, much?
