I am holding two. I have been tired of holding them. Can I let go? Frankly I have let go long ago and do not even know what holding them really meant. Some cost a lot too. Mine fortunately did not back in the day.
Today people pay a lot to get one and to hold one. Some go beyond earning one by merely fabricating one or two. Even the glitziest of CEOs were found lacking - in that they were not holding on to anything and assumed they would have a smooth flight. When the turbulence did hit they were left with no lifeline - of sorts.
They did have a backup parachute in some cases and have since landed and dusted off and gone off to make gobs of money that they felt entitled to.
Again the correlation here is holding degrees to earning money. Money indeed is the life blood of today's dysfunction but hey you need ammo to fight the fight.
Degrees also come with degrees of credibility. Some from well known institutions cost a lot in tuitions as your intuition would suggest. That may or may not translate into much if you drop out in the middle. Sometimes dropping out and not holding any degree does work for some outliers. Some are outright liars as we have seen earlier. As indicated its a matter of degree.
The planet is full of dolts that boast impressive degrees or credentials. These folk continue to head positions in organizations with fancy titles so they have more holding on to do. For said holding they get to manage a lot of paper pushing. They hire people who to a lesser degree can manage their own paper and provide appearance of a well run organization.
Sometimes these turn out to be false papers with false signatures and senate hearings and bailouts and then the deck of cards collapses. So perhaps its time we visited the no holds barred method of education which will emphasize that holding is passe and we should really focus on thinking.
On an informal mission to read one book a week as long as the eyes allow for such ambition. Fiction or non is not important as long as it entertains and /or educates. To that end the past few weeks have brought a bounty in the form of some wonderful and then not so engaging literature. Among the notables are - Non fiction category: 1. Good arguments by Bo Seo (how to handle a dispute or debate the most efficient way possible) 2. Genesis by Eric Schmidt (and former US Secy of State Henry Kissinger, who recently passed) - how AI might affect our lives as we know it 3. One in a billion - Zarna Garg (an autobiographical look at an Indian born American woman with a bindi narrated in a standup format - yes it is at times cliched but still funny) Fiction: 1. Personal by Lee Child (a vigilante story with Jack Reacher the giant, nomad protagonist of Child's novels goes hunting for a sniper) 2. Ramayana unraveled by Ami Ganatra (she might disagree about it being a work of fiction but oh wel...
Hold it, am I right in thinking that we are sinking like a stone, or is it that it is happening by degrees?
ReplyDeleteIf the educational iceberg is Zero Degrees then we are sinking like the Titanic
ReplyDelete