“We don’t hand out doctoral degrees here, but I thought it would be fun to give Max one,” Franklin said, noting that Vermont Public Radio covered the story.
I, like anyone, will be misunderstood. So, let me be clear : I have no problem in Max the Cat getting an doctoral degree, if fun it be for some person.
I am a cat lover, nevertheless, there is a serious point here. Where does this conventional practice of the honorary degrees handout, a practice of centuries, leave those who actually earnt a degree — often ending up unpaid or underpaid in their work — in the prejudicial effect it has in a largely uneducated population?
You hear, from time-to-time, the prejudice of “[swearing] dole-bludgers” who are not worthy in education and the economy. It is difficult-to-impossible to make a causal connection between the effect of the practice of honorary degrees handouts and the prejudices in a largely uneducated population. In most cases, it is simply a rhetorical devise to (attempt) legitimise one person against the other. However, in believing the falsehood, it is a distorted association in the belief the “self-taught” are a better ‘kind’ of person. That is, that those who forgo a formal education in a specific field, to “just do it,” are fully human beings who excel, while it can never be the same for those who worked hard at earning a formal education. The tragedy of the early 21st century is that many politicians and bureaucrats, and even university administrators, believe this falsehood.
The truth is that higher education policy in Australia has not been fun for many in the population. Education is not meant to be fun, but “the rulers” — those who are assigned to determine ‘the measure’ — have been brainwashed by the advertising-public relations industry into believing that policy and politics is ruled by the pleasure factor. At some level that is partially-true, education should become pleasurable, even if it is not fun. What this means is that policy and politics ought not be driven by ‘talking fun’ to produce the pleasure factor. Education needs to be education and the policies of the last 30 years has eroded that state of affairs.
The solution to the immediate problem is not to stop the conventional practice of the honorary degrees handout. It is to provide the employment, or the better employment, to those who worked hard at earning a formal education.
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Neville Buch
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