Henley writes: "Kamala Harris win[s] accolades for putting forward a proposal to remove unnecessary degree requirement for federal jobs. 'Requiring a certain degree does not necessarily talk about one’s skills,' Harris has said. And she's right."
Yet another policy proposal Harris "borrowed" from Trump. (As Musa al-Gharbi acknowledges.)
Trump Signs Executive Order to Overhaul the Federal Hiring Process
Order seeks to place less emphasis on applicants with college degrees.
JUNE 26, 2020
"President Trump on Friday signed an executive order to overhaul requirements federal agencies use when evaluating job candidates, seeking to downplay the importance of college degrees."
This same media of upper class Theory indoctrinated coastal and big city liberals will never give Trump credit for any of his policies and ideas, and so Harris is free to loot them like her CCP handlers loot industry and IP from us.
She wants to build a wall! She seeks to deter illegal immigration! She owns a gun and supports 2A! She wants to eliminate taxes on tips! Kamala really just wants to Make America Great Again.
I concur that one need not have a degree to ask pertinent question… that said, some command of the spoken and written language is demanded to be considered a legitimate inquirer. The ability to frame a question in an understandable and cogent manner is a requirement!
After having been given answers, one must then put them to paper (screen) in a manner acceptable to one’s audience - I would hope that the scrivenings demonstrate a command of grammar, spelling and structure that is appropriate.
The author, to have any hope of being recognized as a serious writer, should have an active vocabulary appropriate to the topic under discussion. Implicit to me is that the writer should be well read, not only in the specific material under discussion, but the history of the interviewee and current circumstances around the subject.
None of the above require a formal scholastic degree but does demand considerable exposure in some manner to the topics discussed.
A formal degree doesn’t indicate competence, only that the individual had exposure to theoretically higher levels of knowledge and might actually know something.
I regret having to point out that even high school diplomas are no assurance that one is able to read, write and cipher! Parenthetically, I believe this fact is truly a tragedy - but that is another discussion.
The best journalists and writers of earlier eras started work EARLY as a printers devil. It makes sense. Starting real experience at 14 provides a 10-year head start over the college grad who wastes those 10 years memorizing useless and mostly wrong "facts".
Degree journalism was policed by the HR Stasi at mainstream media. And the Stasi were empowered by Gutenberg when printing was the necessary distributor of journalism. Not so any more...as attested by the popularity of Tara, The Line, The Hub et al. The internet is the distributor and is better at it than paper boys.
This constant self-analysis of "How in the hell did we bugger this up so badly" is largely a waste of time...if it includes centralized concentration and distribution of news. There can be little meaningful argument on this.
I'm of the opinion that "customized news" is, in some internet form, the future of/for journalists. I already subscribe to the above multiple, competing views. Substack might evolve; X might be a component...but the publice will pay for what they want and "pick and choose" options in a simple and economical format will be the answer.
The challenge now is to organize the flexibilities of the internet megaphone. That awaits, perhaps, the rejuvenation of the "co-op".
On one hand, for those who only want to read the people they agree with it would be wonderful as they won't ever have to have their bias challenged.
On the other hand, for those who are curious about the world, being able to have smorgasbord of news to follow, with different perspectives and experiences opens up a whole new world.
"Those who only want to read the people they agree with"...are already doing it. The "Never Trumpers" will avoid Fox like the plague, gleefully slupring up CNN as a well balanced diet. Ditto, "Always Trumpers", Carlson and raw meat.
Well, I think we need a solution to the root cause of the problem... the collectivist corruption of the industry of higher learning. And here is how I am helping.
Because these upper class graduates are dripping with their opinion that they are better than everyone else because of their campus experience which includes a large dose of Theory-based indoctrination (the woke thing), the are very transparent in their opinions. So for my business my hiring managers have a list of common questions. We also vet graduates from certain schools. We are looking for evidence that the applicant is infected with the parasitic woke mind virus and they are rejected. They are rejected because the virus manifests a grievance mindset that is toxic to a productive work culture.
I have CEO friends that are liberal and run non-profits that are trying to rid themselves of these corrupted employees... telling me that they have learned their lesson in TDS causing them to chew off their own arms and legs in rage. They adopted the woke ideology because it seemed so anti-Trump, and now they are paying the price.
I think as the private sector purges these people (Musk started it) and refuses to hire them, the colleges will get hit with the blame and they will have to reform to attract students again.
Otherwise we will keep cranking out mind virus infected students that end up working in the press and media.
“They don’t need a degree, period. It’s a mentality. You need a brain, a spine — and a relentless curiosity. Find better people who don’t care about how many Twitter followers they have or whether their report might piss someone off.”
All true, but missing the point in the same way that this whole argument does. As long as your large media organizations are owned by large corporate interests, it's not Main Stream Media, it's Corporate Media, and it's there to serve the corporations not the public interest. And the people they hire, credentialed or not, will definitely be the people who *do* care about how many Twitter followers they have or whether their report might piss someone off.
The problem is not the employees, but the employers, and nothing in this discussion addresses that reality.
'By relaxing gatekeeping, we show that we care more about the health of our media, and by extension our democracy, than we do about maintaining our own competitive advantage.'
Humans are driven by the rush of power. The basis of power in our bureaucracy is university education. It creates exclusion, the purpose of which is to push yourself up while you push others down. To be different. To be special. To be powerful and feel the rush. Incentives drive all humanity. Your proposal drives against the incentives. It's a pipe dream.
"Unwarranted credentialism" is the term I first heard used about 40 years ago when my (then) regional government employer introduced master's degree requirements for positions that did not need them. I worked as a policy analyst/advisor in government for about 50 years; a well-rounded degree/training in problem identification, research, analysis, options/solution identification, public consultation, critical thinking, etc. was and is essential to doing the job. At no time did this ever "require" advanced degrees. It requires a leaning toward big picture thinking, intense curiosity, capacity for fact checking and historical analysis of legislation/regulation/demographics/cultural shifts. Level of education in my case tended to demonstrate a leaning toward analysis and population-based public policy problem solving (wow!). Most trades people are happy to leave that stuff to wonks like me. Not that they couldn't do it if they really wanted to; just that they aren't interested. We work well together because people in other walks of life educate me on policy direction. BTW, I never finished my final master's thesis - marriage failed, baby to look after, found a job before they changed the rules.
I have long wanted to bring back apprenticeships in almost every field. I cannot tell you how many young people I encounter, who have MA's and are clueless. Young men, off to a prestigious school in England to learn about Alternative Energy, but have never looked at a windmill, let alone installed a Solar Panel. But somehow these clueless individuals with lots of education are going to be the ones deciding our energy policies..... We would be so much better of if they had to spend several years working at the front line, before they were accepted to get their masters, let along a PHD.
Where do we teach critical thinking skills? Few seem to make it through our education system with this capability. All focus appears to be on teaching belief systems instead.
The transition of newsrooms to pure profit driven models that need to compete with social media algorithm driven echo chambers means that the last refuge of critical thought to educate society is lost.
We don't have enough muckrakers. What I find shocking is the lack of hustle.
Like that goofy sounding Cat story in Springfield. NYT/WaPo/WSJ phoned local politicians that said it was OK, there were cases, but they weren't' even in Springfield - they were in Columbus - 30 min away. So what is happening in Columbus! The 1st out there, on the ground were YouTube Reporters. Turns out there were 8 calls to the police - none investigated as it is a low level issue. But there seems to be a policy of dumping refugees in medium towns, far away from NYC/DC/LA media centres that are dumping grounds.
Henley writes: "Kamala Harris win[s] accolades for putting forward a proposal to remove unnecessary degree requirement for federal jobs. 'Requiring a certain degree does not necessarily talk about one’s skills,' Harris has said. And she's right."
Yet another policy proposal Harris "borrowed" from Trump. (As Musa al-Gharbi acknowledges.)
Trump Signs Executive Order to Overhaul the Federal Hiring Process
Order seeks to place less emphasis on applicants with college degrees.
JUNE 26, 2020
"President Trump on Friday signed an executive order to overhaul requirements federal agencies use when evaluating job candidates, seeking to downplay the importance of college degrees."
full story: https://shorturl.at/E0oZh
This same media of upper class Theory indoctrinated coastal and big city liberals will never give Trump credit for any of his policies and ideas, and so Harris is free to loot them like her CCP handlers loot industry and IP from us.
She wants to build a wall! She seeks to deter illegal immigration! She owns a gun and supports 2A! She wants to eliminate taxes on tips! Kamala really just wants to Make America Great Again.
40 love Erwin, serve to Tara.
I concur that one need not have a degree to ask pertinent question… that said, some command of the spoken and written language is demanded to be considered a legitimate inquirer. The ability to frame a question in an understandable and cogent manner is a requirement!
After having been given answers, one must then put them to paper (screen) in a manner acceptable to one’s audience - I would hope that the scrivenings demonstrate a command of grammar, spelling and structure that is appropriate.
The author, to have any hope of being recognized as a serious writer, should have an active vocabulary appropriate to the topic under discussion. Implicit to me is that the writer should be well read, not only in the specific material under discussion, but the history of the interviewee and current circumstances around the subject.
None of the above require a formal scholastic degree but does demand considerable exposure in some manner to the topics discussed.
A formal degree doesn’t indicate competence, only that the individual had exposure to theoretically higher levels of knowledge and might actually know something.
I regret having to point out that even high school diplomas are no assurance that one is able to read, write and cipher! Parenthetically, I believe this fact is truly a tragedy - but that is another discussion.
The best journalists and writers of earlier eras started work EARLY as a printers devil. It makes sense. Starting real experience at 14 provides a 10-year head start over the college grad who wastes those 10 years memorizing useless and mostly wrong "facts".
Degree journalism was policed by the HR Stasi at mainstream media. And the Stasi were empowered by Gutenberg when printing was the necessary distributor of journalism. Not so any more...as attested by the popularity of Tara, The Line, The Hub et al. The internet is the distributor and is better at it than paper boys.
This constant self-analysis of "How in the hell did we bugger this up so badly" is largely a waste of time...if it includes centralized concentration and distribution of news. There can be little meaningful argument on this.
I'm of the opinion that "customized news" is, in some internet form, the future of/for journalists. I already subscribe to the above multiple, competing views. Substack might evolve; X might be a component...but the publice will pay for what they want and "pick and choose" options in a simple and economical format will be the answer.
The challenge now is to organize the flexibilities of the internet megaphone. That awaits, perhaps, the rejuvenation of the "co-op".
Customized news is a two edged sword.
On one hand, for those who only want to read the people they agree with it would be wonderful as they won't ever have to have their bias challenged.
On the other hand, for those who are curious about the world, being able to have smorgasbord of news to follow, with different perspectives and experiences opens up a whole new world.
"Those who only want to read the people they agree with"...are already doing it. The "Never Trumpers" will avoid Fox like the plague, gleefully slupring up CNN as a well balanced diet. Ditto, "Always Trumpers", Carlson and raw meat.
Well, I think we need a solution to the root cause of the problem... the collectivist corruption of the industry of higher learning. And here is how I am helping.
Because these upper class graduates are dripping with their opinion that they are better than everyone else because of their campus experience which includes a large dose of Theory-based indoctrination (the woke thing), the are very transparent in their opinions. So for my business my hiring managers have a list of common questions. We also vet graduates from certain schools. We are looking for evidence that the applicant is infected with the parasitic woke mind virus and they are rejected. They are rejected because the virus manifests a grievance mindset that is toxic to a productive work culture.
I have CEO friends that are liberal and run non-profits that are trying to rid themselves of these corrupted employees... telling me that they have learned their lesson in TDS causing them to chew off their own arms and legs in rage. They adopted the woke ideology because it seemed so anti-Trump, and now they are paying the price.
I think as the private sector purges these people (Musk started it) and refuses to hire them, the colleges will get hit with the blame and they will have to reform to attract students again.
Otherwise we will keep cranking out mind virus infected students that end up working in the press and media.
“They don’t need a degree, period. It’s a mentality. You need a brain, a spine — and a relentless curiosity. Find better people who don’t care about how many Twitter followers they have or whether their report might piss someone off.”
All true, but missing the point in the same way that this whole argument does. As long as your large media organizations are owned by large corporate interests, it's not Main Stream Media, it's Corporate Media, and it's there to serve the corporations not the public interest. And the people they hire, credentialed or not, will definitely be the people who *do* care about how many Twitter followers they have or whether their report might piss someone off.
The problem is not the employees, but the employers, and nothing in this discussion addresses that reality.
'By relaxing gatekeeping, we show that we care more about the health of our media, and by extension our democracy, than we do about maintaining our own competitive advantage.'
Humans are driven by the rush of power. The basis of power in our bureaucracy is university education. It creates exclusion, the purpose of which is to push yourself up while you push others down. To be different. To be special. To be powerful and feel the rush. Incentives drive all humanity. Your proposal drives against the incentives. It's a pipe dream.
Really all they had to do was tell the truth without a political agenda.
They can't do it, they won't do it. Next.
"Unwarranted credentialism" is the term I first heard used about 40 years ago when my (then) regional government employer introduced master's degree requirements for positions that did not need them. I worked as a policy analyst/advisor in government for about 50 years; a well-rounded degree/training in problem identification, research, analysis, options/solution identification, public consultation, critical thinking, etc. was and is essential to doing the job. At no time did this ever "require" advanced degrees. It requires a leaning toward big picture thinking, intense curiosity, capacity for fact checking and historical analysis of legislation/regulation/demographics/cultural shifts. Level of education in my case tended to demonstrate a leaning toward analysis and population-based public policy problem solving (wow!). Most trades people are happy to leave that stuff to wonks like me. Not that they couldn't do it if they really wanted to; just that they aren't interested. We work well together because people in other walks of life educate me on policy direction. BTW, I never finished my final master's thesis - marriage failed, baby to look after, found a job before they changed the rules.
I have long wanted to bring back apprenticeships in almost every field. I cannot tell you how many young people I encounter, who have MA's and are clueless. Young men, off to a prestigious school in England to learn about Alternative Energy, but have never looked at a windmill, let alone installed a Solar Panel. But somehow these clueless individuals with lots of education are going to be the ones deciding our energy policies..... We would be so much better of if they had to spend several years working at the front line, before they were accepted to get their masters, let along a PHD.
Where do we teach critical thinking skills? Few seem to make it through our education system with this capability. All focus appears to be on teaching belief systems instead.
The transition of newsrooms to pure profit driven models that need to compete with social media algorithm driven echo chambers means that the last refuge of critical thought to educate society is lost.
We don't have enough muckrakers. What I find shocking is the lack of hustle.
Like that goofy sounding Cat story in Springfield. NYT/WaPo/WSJ phoned local politicians that said it was OK, there were cases, but they weren't' even in Springfield - they were in Columbus - 30 min away. So what is happening in Columbus! The 1st out there, on the ground were YouTube Reporters. Turns out there were 8 calls to the police - none investigated as it is a low level issue. But there seems to be a policy of dumping refugees in medium towns, far away from NYC/DC/LA media centres that are dumping grounds.
A separate comment on your "Trust spiral". Outstanding!