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Wednesday, February 18, 2015

Finishing the Degree


For John, BLUFYour technical training and experience in the business are more important than some lack of a degree from UML.  Nothing to see here; just move along.



"Captain Ed" Morrissey, who has made a living out of being a Blogger (he is the one who broke the Canadian Vote Buying Scandal, Adscam, while Blogging at Captain's Quarters) talks about Governor Scott Walker and his lack of a degree.

From The Week we have "Scott Walker, and the problem with valuing credentials over competence".

"Whatever you do, make sure you finish college.  You'll regret it if you don't have a degree."

My father offered me this advice once.  Actually, he offered it to me thousands of times (as did my mother), as often as the subject came up, or even if it didn't come up.  This started at about the time Star Wars premiered before my sophomore year in high school.  It didn't end until the middle of the next decade, when it became clear that I had other ideas.

The point of the column is that for someone like Governor Scott Walker (and Ed Morrissey), experience and performance is much more important than whether one has a college diploma.  This is as opposed to the view that credentials promise competence.  As Law Professor Glenn Harlan Reynolds says:
Our ruling class values credentials over competence because they have a lot more of the former than they do of the latter. . . .
As Lance Commented in a previous post, getting that degree is good.  Ed Morrissey gets the point.  He ends his essay this way:
As for my son, he's working on his doctorate, which means I have to admit that he's smarter and more disciplined than his old man.  That's as difficult to do as admitting that my father was right.  So please, do me a favor — don't forward this to either of them.
But, experience in the real world is more useable than a theoretical understanding of the problem, without the experience to craft and implement a solution.

Hat tip to the Instapundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

  For readers of The New York Times that would be Mr Scott.
  I have a Granddaughter, out making OK money in the R&D Lab of a Chemical Company.  She is one course shy of her degree.  Much as I feel Governor Walker's lack of a sheep skin is not important to 2016, I do think she needs to get that last course.

2 comments:

lance said...

How is it that the world (the Corporate World, the Government World, Professions, University World, etc.) all have it so wrong? I have never worked for a firm or agency that didn't require a college degree. Haven't been to court with a lawyer that didn't have a degree. Never had a professor, surgeon, Air Force officer, pilot, ... that didn't have a degree.

And one thing that University does show is that you learn something new faster if you have been trained in learning and critical thinking.

That is not to imply there aren't some very successful people without degrees. Mr Scott, or Mr Walker among them.

C R Krieger said...

The US Air Force requires a degree for Pilots and Navigators because it is a way of winnowing the field and a way of getting folks who are more mature.  My understanding is the Israeli Air Force takes people who are out of high school, but not yet college students, because they are more aggressive and less cautious.  I am not sure it makes a difference in outcome.

Abe Lincoln didn't go to law school, but did OK.  I think it is a case of professions taking themselves more seriously.  Not that we don't all benefit, but it might be interesting to know if something was lost along the way.

Does the surgeon benefit most from his MD or from his time assisting in operations?

On the other hand, I am taking a college course this semester.  Working on a Second Bachelors, since you told Messr Bibiloni "that I never went to college."

Regards  —  Cliff