I just spent the last few hours drudging through a stack of research papers for my Tuesday evening class on Power, Politics, and the Hidden Agenda. What a load of crap. The first article tried to compare modern corporate leadership to the behavior of cavemen. The second was trying to convince the world that leadership is just like a theater performance. I do not even know how to respond to this. The obvious first response is "what do we really know about the social interactions of the cavemen?" Because I am pretty sure, that besides the Gieco spokesman, there exist no cavemen to interview. But then a light went on upstairs. Each of the dozen or so articles that I read have one thing in common. Each article is ended with a paragraph on all of the authors academic achievements. You know what I mean...the whole
"Doctor Brown is the chair of anagramic studies at Harvard (and it is always Harvard). He received his PhD in something retarded that no one cares about, and did postdoctoral work somewhere in Europe!"
In other words....a PhD gives you full license to make up whatever garbage you want, and we take it for fact. I mean, have any of you ever watched the history channel. They only interview 2 types of people, PhDs and Politicians. Just the fact that the press gives equal credence to both people should say enough.....Why do we put up with it.
First, I must admit, that I myself am a graduate student and will be receiving a Master's in Business this May. But I am mostly in it for the money (okay, maybe fully in it for the money). And who wouldn't be...two years of relatively interesting and stimulating courses, a lot of networking, plenty of golf, and then almost a guarantee that you will be making at least double what you could have done without it. I pity my friends in Dental school, or Medical School, who put themselves through hell for 10 years at the hope of someday getting a real paycheck, only to return half of it to the bank that financed their decade in wonderland and spend the other half on the malpractice insurance. Not to mention that by the time they are out, technology improvements have all but negated their learning. But where am I going....Phd, thats right.
Why is it that the more years you spend in school, the smarter it is assumed that you are? I know it seems trivial, but is it really the case, that the longer you avoid real life, the greater you must be at explaining it? I honestly ran into someone the other day that had just received his PhD in engineering and couldn't find a job. Instead of continuing his search, he just signed up for more classes. This is the kind of people we have telling us what is black and white. The vomit of the real world.
Now I know I am not being fair to all. There are indeed people out there with PhDs whom we should respect. Unfortunately for them, academia is ready to promote anyone with the ability to generate government grant dollars. Their degrees get trivialized.
I guess I am calling for a way for us to filter through the garbage. We need something outside of academia to certify and determine who is actually allowed to call it as it is. (And the US government isn't smart enough to handle the job)
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
I have always thought that we need some sort of "Common Sense" test, because some of the "smartest" people I have met were also the stupidest :).
In my line of work I have to work with "competent practitioners" and I much prefer to work with those practitioners with field experience than those with multiple initials after their names.
Post a Comment