People educate each other. In a capitalist society, that may be based upon relationships between strangers that are primarily motivated by money. But even within a very capitalist society, people have other motivations, and we learn a lot of things by observing other people do a thing. They don’t necessarily have to be instructing us for us to get an education from them.
Yes, our current societal structure is largely transactional relationships between strangers for money. However, even within that society there are free educational programs and people willing to teach each other various skills just because they enjoy doing it.
Well I can’t speak for you, but if I have the choice between the two, I’ll take the brain surgeon that went to medical school over the one who learned brain surgery from the internet and people who like to perform surgery on brains for the sheer enjoyment of it.
Credentials are just a shortcut to trust in a stranger’s abilities. Broadly speaking someone who jumped through all of the societal hoops may be more trustworthy, but like all heuristics and facsimiles it fails sometimes as well. There have been well-credentialed, seemingly qualified surgeons from prestigious institutions that wound up being some combination of evil and incompetent, and landed people in the hospital or the morgue because credentialism is not foolproof.
Relatedly, credentials are really what the institutions consistently provide – not education – and they are a large part of the reason people attend them in the first place.
You’re mainly paying for a degree, not abilities and not an education.
You made an argument that because someone went to medical school that they’re more trustworthy…and again broad strokes, sure. You are relying on their credentials though. You cannot possibly conduct a thorough enough background check to know if they are skilled enough to conduct your surgery.
While this is generally more reliable than say…taking their word for it, it also is possible for credentialed people to slip through the cracks:
I have nothing against universities, but the largely for-profit educational system in America is not the only way formal education can ever possibly work. There are universities in other countries that don’t rely on cronyism, nepotism, discrimination, and wealth to qualify who gets into the programs.
Does it?
People educate each other. In a capitalist society, that may be based upon relationships between strangers that are primarily motivated by money. But even within a very capitalist society, people have other motivations, and we learn a lot of things by observing other people do a thing. They don’t necessarily have to be instructing us for us to get an education from them.
Yes, our current societal structure is largely transactional relationships between strangers for money. However, even within that society there are free educational programs and people willing to teach each other various skills just because they enjoy doing it.
Well I can’t speak for you, but if I have the choice between the two, I’ll take the brain surgeon that went to medical school over the one who learned brain surgery from the internet and people who like to perform surgery on brains for the sheer enjoyment of it.
Credentials are just a shortcut to trust in a stranger’s abilities. Broadly speaking someone who jumped through all of the societal hoops may be more trustworthy, but like all heuristics and facsimiles it fails sometimes as well. There have been well-credentialed, seemingly qualified surgeons from prestigious institutions that wound up being some combination of evil and incompetent, and landed people in the hospital or the morgue because credentialism is not foolproof.
Relatedly, credentials are really what the institutions consistently provide – not education – and they are a large part of the reason people attend them in the first place.
You’re mainly paying for a degree, not abilities and not an education.
I didn’t say anything about credentials. This is about a proper education for the job.
Would you really go to a brain surgeon that didn’t go to medical school?
You made an argument that because someone went to medical school that they’re more trustworthy…and again broad strokes, sure. You are relying on their credentials though. You cannot possibly conduct a thorough enough background check to know if they are skilled enough to conduct your surgery.
While this is generally more reliable than say…taking their word for it, it also is possible for credentialed people to slip through the cracks:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Duntsch
I have nothing against universities, but the largely for-profit educational system in America is not the only way formal education can ever possibly work. There are universities in other countries that don’t rely on cronyism, nepotism, discrimination, and wealth to qualify who gets into the programs.