Fw: degrees

["Bev Corwin" <bev -at- enso-company -dot- com>]

> Dear Bill,
>
> My 2 cents:
>
> I believe that education and knowledge are important.  I do not believe
that
> a degree means a whole lot one way or another.  I certainly do not believe
> that all degree holding persons are educated or knowledgeable.  I prefer
to
> not screen resumes by whether or not an applicant has a degree.  I look
for
> quality of work and accomplishments.  I look for qualities like integrity,
> honesty and commitment.  I look for creativity and skills.  I believe that
> screening or excluding based on a degree is a form of discrimination.
> Particularly in the case of age discrimination with women,  since not long
> ago,  far fewer women had the opportunities to go to college.  I also
> believe it is a way to discriminate against people from rural areas and
the
> underclasses who did not have access to Universities, for example.  The
> current education cult mentality degrades self-learning or individual
study,
> but look at the accomplishments of home schoolers across the country.  In
> America, we once had a grande tradition of self learning.  Only since
> education has become institutionalized has it also become so shallow.  Our
> first University was not intended to be a degree machine.  It was intended
> by Thomas Jefferson to be a place where people could spend parts of their
> lives learning and studying, more of a life long learning model.  Of
course,
> institutions will have difficulty supporting or understanding any creative
> process.  Its like asking a machine to be a poet.  The institution is a
> machine,  the degree means that someone completed just that,  the
education
> machine.  Most education institutions are significantly behind the curve,
as
> well, so the very creative thinkers will find that intolerable.  I believe
> that screening based solely on a degree is, also, a way to discriminate
> against people who were of college age during economic recessions or war
> time.   I know many who had to drop out of school in the recession of the
> 1970's and go to work.  Look at the Vietnam era, how many young people
went
> to war instead of college.  One photographer I know who dropped out of a
> degree program for economic reasons,  later was asked to teach at the very
> college he dropped out of because of his professional accomplishments.
The
> same is true today that many college age students are forced into the job
> market, and cannot finish degrees because of the economy.  I believe this
> contributes, of course, to the high unemployment stats, as well.  Its a
lost
> opportunity for them.  It will take them longer to complete school, while
> working, and some may never do so.  I never use any one characteristic to
> decide whether or not a person is capable of doing a job, or not.  I look
at
> the whole person, how they managed their challenges, and what they made of
> their opportunities.
>
> Bev
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Bill Buckheit" <kcbillb2 -at- kc -dot- rr -dot- com>
> To: "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com>
> Sent: Tuesday, May 07, 2002 12:50 PM
> Subject: degrees
>
>
> >
> > Folks,
> >
> > I'm getting lots of interesting responses to this thread, and I'll
> > summarize on Friday.
> >
> > Now, I know that some of you out there don't have a degree. I'd
appreciate
> > hearing from you too. As we all should know, it isn't a degree or lack
> > thereof that's important, but how well you do the job.
> >
> > Looking forward to hearing from all of you.
> >
> >
> > Bill Buckheit
> > kcbillb2 -at- kc -dot- rr -dot- com
>
>
>




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