Why Skills Trumps Degrees

Today as I scrolled through my LinkedIn home page, I came across an article 'Why Skills Don't Trump Having Degrees' written by Frederick Daso, a Structural Analyst Intern at Boeing. Here are some excerpts from this article.

• There aren't even any public statistics on how many individuals are employed in white-collar jobs without a college degree
• The group of highly skilled individuals in technology or professional services without a degree are few in number compared to their credential-wielding peers
• A majority of high paying jobs are still reserved college graduates to apply to. Even though firms like Google and Ernst & Young (their UK office) have removed the requirement of having a college degree to even be considered for an open position, there are very few people who get hired into these established companies without that piece of paper in their hand
• Without stable non-traditional learning institutions to challenge the status-quo of university and college learning, it will be hard for society to turn away from a degree as the gold-standard for employability
• Maybe one day skills will matter more than a piece of paper, because we all know that skills pay the bills.

Sean Bridges, 25, a cybersecurity analyst for IBM in Rocket Center
Just so you know, he didnt posses a degree when he landed his Dream Job

I get really disturbed that there are people in this time who still believe this mis-conception 'Skills don't trump having degrees'. This is not an attack on Frederick Daso, a 2016 LinkedIn Top Voice rather this is an attack on a popular mis-conception that has ruled and limited the lives of many highly skilled individuals today.

Frederick Daso obviously wrote a brilliant article, but i think there is too much emphasis on getting college degrees. If what really matters at this time is to push and improve the circumstances and lives of those left behind in the economy, those who really feel the pain of price inflation, no job opportunities, corrupt governance, then there will be less emphasis on college degrees and more emphasis on skills and natural talents. The human evolution has seen the hunter/gatherer/caveman era, the farming/agrarian era, the industrial era and now the technology/information era and gradually there is the adaptation of the conceptual era into the technology/information era.

THE INDUSTRIAL AGE VERSUS THE INFORMATION AGE

In the Industrial Age there was a strong need for students to conform, apply specific rules and fit in to the society. That was when the bulk of the employment opportunities were for factory workers, therefore schools needed to churn out students who could perform mundane tasks for long periods of time i.e maintain high levels of productivity over a sustained period of  time. Years ago, a sincere issue among political leaders was how to find enough workers to maintain and increase productivity. For that reason, government leaders and heads of industries viewed school as a way to produce the human resources that they needed to continue to be productive. They couldn’t afford to allow schools to produce thinkers because thinkers aren’t very good workers. Those schools generally produced students who were very good at going to school. A top student would be one who had good manners, never received punishment from the teacher, always did their homework, stuck to what he was taught and vommited on paper in examinations the teacher's exact words. Children who were good at going to school were also good at going to work because work was rigid, less creative and not expressive. More broadly, the Industrial age refers to a time that saw economic production relatively as large-scale, centralized production incorporating heavy, mechanized machinery and mass numbers of wage workers. In addition, the Industrial age centered economic activity on  industry and manufacturing.

The Information Age (also known as the Computer Age, Digital Age, or New Media Age) is a period in human history characterized by the shift from traditional industry that the Industrial Revolution brought through industrialization, to an economy based on information computerization. The phenomenon now is the digital industry that creates a knowledge-based society surrounded by a high-tech global economy that spans over its influence on how the manufacturing throughout and the service sector operate in an efficient and convenient way. In a commercialized society, the information industry is able to allow individuals to explore their personalized needs, therefore simplifying the procedure of making decisions for transactions and significantly lowering costs for both the producers and buyers. This is accepted overwhelmingly by participants throughout the entire economic activities for efficacy purposes, and new economic incentives would then be indigenously encouraged, such as the knowledge economy. The Information Age is practically the antithesis of Industrial Age schooling. We need to begin churning out students who can solve problems that we don’t even know are problems yet and students who can lead. The jobs of the future will require students to have creative minds. These adults will be required to collaborate with others and question whatever is placed before them. Employers will be looking for workers who can use their networks to find the answer to whatever conundrum they come upon. Networked people will be more powerful than the greatest scholar because they will have the brain power of hundreds or thousands of minds. We can’t afford to produce students who are just good at school because human labour now is being replaced by technology. We need to produce students who can survive without a detailed syllabus. Being like everyone else is no longer be a sought after attribute, standing out is.

Industrial Age:
The Traditional Classroom

Values, Priorities & Motivators
• Uniformity, sameness; fitting in.
• Stability, permanence, security(rigid roles)
• Competitiveness
• Motivation for cooperation: Pleasing authority (approval-seeking), Avoiding punishment, humiliation, rejection, disapproval; Oriented to adult and adult’s reaction
• Outcome and Product Orientation
• Pleasing others regardless of personal needs
• Perfectionism
• Black-and-white thinking(or all-or-nothing thinking, dualism); Tunnel vision
• Past or future orientation
• Personal worth is dependent on achievement, appearance, wealth, performance, etc.

Information Age:
The Win-Win Classroom

Values, Priorities & Motivators
• Diversity, personal potential and unfoldment; growth potential, personal fulfillment
• Flexibility, choices, personal control, (variable roles, expectations)
• Cooperation
• Motivation for cooperation: personal satisfaction; curiosity; positive consequences or outcomes that are unrelated to adult’s reaction; oriented to student
• Process or person orientation
• Self-care; doing for others with regard for personal needs
• Mistakes seen as a necessary and valuable part of growth
• Many options and alternatives; ability to see various points of view
• Present-time orientation
• Personal worth is unconditional, regardless of achievement, appearance, performance, etc.

Skills: Student Behaviors that are Encouraged or Reinforced
• Following orders, obedience, people-pleasing, asking permission, compliance, dependence
• Listening
• Respecting authority relationship while protecting existing hierarchy or power structure
• Avoiding conflict; peace at any price
• Self-sacrifice, self-abandonment; putting others first even at cost to self
• Not making waves; maintaining status quo
• Ability to “stuff” feelings, appear “fine;” impression management; blaming, making others responsible for how you feel
• Following; may include acceptance of imposed values without question or without regard to personal values, integrity
• Dependence on leader (credit or blame)

Skills: Student Behaviors that are Encouraged or Reinforced
• Taking initiative, making decisions within limits of rules or boundaries; self-caring choices
• Communicating
• Respecting authority relationship while networking, negotiating
• Personal integrity
• Self-care; maintaining personal boundaries; service and consideration with respect to personal needs
• Taking risks, trying new things; innovating
• Expressing feelings honestly, responsibly and non-disruptively
• Operating according to a personal value system as long as no one’s rights or boundaries are violated
• Assuming personal responsibility; teamwork

Authority Relationships
• Reactive
• Power-oriented; punitive
• Win-Lose (powering or permissive)
• Command-oriented; demands; few choices offered
• Teacher sets limits and determines what is and is not negotiable; enforces rules
• Student empowerment discouraged; initiative often punished or criticized; perceived as a threat to adult authority
• Manipulative
• Purpose for rules and boundaries power-based: “Because I said so”; not explained to students
• Teacher responsible for students’ behavior
• Tendency to take students’ behavior or misbehavior personally; vulnerability of self-worth or sense of adequacy to how kids act
• Rescuing behavior is common; warnings, inappropriate second chances; denying or making excuses for students’ misbehavior; protecting students from negative outcomes of choices or punishing undesirable choices
• Rules and boundaries established to protect teacher power
• Mistrust; belief that students are “always trying to get away with something” and will behave only in presence of authority they fear
• Teachers frightened by or uncomfortable with students’ expressions of feelings (especially anger, sadness or fear); denial of feel–ings; judgment, criticism, blaming, distracting or shaming students for their feelings
• Approval of students conditional on students’ cooperative, teacher-pleasing behavior
• Arrogance, self-centeredness, self-righteousness; “shoulds;” focus on teacher needs
• Double standards for adults and children; certain language, behaviors or attitudes teachers model are not tolerated (and punished) when students do the same things

Authority Relationships
• Proactive, preventative
• Goal- or consequence-oriented (positive or negative)
• Win-win (cooperative)
• Agreement- or negotiation-oriented; many choices may be offered
• Teacher sets limits and determines what is and is not negotiable; encourages self-enforcement
• Student empowerment and initiative encouraged within limits that respect everyone’s rights
• Direct
• Purpose for rules and boundaries is consequence-based, explained to students
• Students responsible for their own behavior
• Greater detachment from personal impact of students’ behavior (affect of students’ behavior on self-worth or adequacy of teacher) without loss of caring
• Students allowed to experience negative (but non-life-threatening) outcomes of choices; “poor choosing” (uncooperative, undesirable choices or behaviors) seen as “learning opportunities” or “teachable moments.”
• Rules or boundaries established to protect everyone’s rights, consider everyone’s needs
• Trust; belief that students will make responsible choices if given the opportunity (and reason) to do so; trust in students’ ability to function even in absence of authority
• Teachers accept and encourage students to feel feelings and express them constructively (without hurting others or themselves);
students accepted regardless of their feelings
• Acceptance of students regardless of their behavior
• No need to make student wrong for teacher to be right; respect for students’ needs
• Absence of double standards; teachers model behaviors they want children to exhibit

Discipline Goals
• Students make few decisions, have few opportunities to act independently
• Independence seen as threatening to power, undermining teacher’s role as authority, disciplinarian
• Punishment for infractions (often long-term and severe); rarely opportunities for self-correction (although remorse, shame and contrition may be accepted)
• Confusion of student behavior and worth
• Praise of student for cooperation, achievement, teacher-pleasing behavior (connecting student’s “goodness” to positive choices); emphasis on student, not deed and value of student’s choice to teacher
• Critical, judgmental; focus on negative
• Warnings, lectures, delayed consequences
• Problems with students often referred to outside authority for punishment (principal, counselor, coach, parent)
• Greater rigidity and uniformity in assignments, rewards; evaluation tends to be comparative (based on the performance of others)

Discipline Goals
• Students have opportunities to make decisions, act independently
• Independence seen as supporting cooperative relationship; frees teacher for instruction, guidance, facilitation
• Consequences for infractions (often the absence of positive consequences until behavior changes); self-correction encouraged; objective is improved behavior (re—morse, shame, contrition are not necessary).
• Separation of student behavior and worth
• Recognition of student cooperation or achievement without judging; emphasis on deed, not student (student’s worth is not an issue) and value of student’s choice to student.
• Focus on positive
• Immediate consequences (generally, removal of positive consequence)
• Personal responsibility for problems with students; teachers may contact outside authority as a resource, for ideas or support, or simply to let them know what’s going on and how they are going to handle the problem
• Greater diversity and flexibility in assignments, rewards; evaluation based on individual performance and ability

Needs of the Economy
• Ability to “fit in,” follow orders (chain of command), think inside the box, perform as directed; expectation that tasks/assignments would not vary much in one job description

Needs of the Economy
• Higher priority on networking, people skills, communication skills, creative thinking (“outside the box”) and problem solving, initiative, flexibility, adaptability; ability to multi-task, shift gears, change to shifting demands of the workplace; people with “vision and attitude.”

 


I have seen many families delve into lower financial states because they have spent a fortune trying to get their children the best education possible. The irony is these children have acquired all the education possible but then are hit with the reality that there are no employment opportunities. Well for those who are fortunate to find these opportunities, they are forced to work like camels for years for fat salaries. Therefore they are not in control of their time, so there's no time for themselves, their loved ones, friends and even God their creator. How many companies practice employee satisfaction? What is the benefit in being tossed around without a mind of your own? Can you stand out in mordern society if you don't have the time to think and perform out of the box? What happens when you haven't built a network outside your workplace and company and you suddenly get sacked? I think it transcends the fat salaries, its all about the love that family, friends and being around yourself and your family provides. The truth is many of these individuals realize all this late in life either when their health detoriates, when there is a finacial crisis, when they lose a part of family to the cold hands of death or when the children develop some wild behaviour and gets into serious trouble. It is not entirely the fault of these individuals, it is as a result of wrong information, beliefs and concepts that many people in influential places brainwash the society with.

I think we desperately need to revive the route to the middle class and upper class for people can't keep up in a manipulated economy. Everyone is born with gifts and talents but some individuals have mis-informed the less-informed that it's not the skills and talents that keep you alive in this economy. They cheat others into a process of living, they provide the wrong blueprints, they create the ladders and they expect everyone to climb, conform, work hard, so their pockets get fatter and fatter. They don't care respect personal potential and personal fufillment. Like Steve Jobs said

"While we grow up, we tend to be told that the world is just the way that it is and your role is to live your life inside the world and try not to bash into the walls often. That's a fear limted life, life can be much broader once you discover one simple fact; And that is everything around you that you  call life was made up by people no smarter than you and you can change it, you can influence it, you can build your own things which other peoople will use. It is to shake off this eronous notion that life is just there and you just have to live it, embrace it. Change it, improve it, make your mark upon it and once you learn that, you will never be the same again."

I as an individual get inspired by listening to artists like J.cole, Kendrick Lamar, Jay-Z and yes its a lot about their lyrics, their persona and their appeal but what strikes me most about these individuals is that they designed their lives to their taste, how they wanted it to be. They didn't follow or believe this total mis-conception that degrees are more important than skills. They didn't limit their abilities and potentials because society says it isn't possible. Well these are artists, maybe its easier for them because of the world-wide appeal for music and the lifestyle associated with it. Let's narrow to the less fancied life of an up-coming writer in the mordern world. It is worth of note that J.K. Rowling earned a BA in French and Classics at the University of Exeter in South West England, 1986. Seven years after graduating from university, Rowling saw herself as a failure. Her marriage had failed, and she was jobless with a dependent child. Every Harry Potter fan knows that Rowling was an unemployed single mother on public assistance when she wrote the series that revolutionalized her life and career. Rowling has said that her college experience was not exactly what she had expected because she expected “to be amongst lots of similar people – thinking radical thoughts.”

This is as far as college education and degrees go and that's how far your skills take you.

• We won't be using popular social media like Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat e.t.c today if Mark Zuckerberg had decided to complete his college education. It's no longer news that he dropped out of university to use his skills to achieve his dream and not only did he achieve his dream (Facebook), he inspired other dreams and thats why there is the presence of other social media.
• There's Bill Gates also, he dropped out to use his programming skills to create Microsoft. Microsoft remains a main stay in modern day computing and promises to remain a main stay but it took Bill Gates to realize that skills trumped degrees before making a radical decision(in society's eye) to drop out of school.

I am not against getting university education, especially skill based courses e.g. Accounting, Mass Communication, Business Administration e.t.c. But we just need to eradicate the mentality of placing more importance on degrees than on person skills.

 

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