{"id":1187,"date":"2013-05-09T05:18:46","date_gmt":"2013-05-09T09:18:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.darden.virginia.edu\/brunerblog\/?p=1187"},"modified":"2013-09-18T15:15:52","modified_gmt":"2013-09-18T19:15:52","slug":"why-do-we-need-academic-degrees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.darden.virginia.edu\/brunerblog\/2013\/05\/why-do-we-need-academic-degrees\/","title":{"rendered":"Why do we need academic degrees?"},"content":{"rendered":"

I<\/span> regularly get cornered at a reception or dinner by an intense person who feels an urge to unload some unsolicited advice (N.B. see my earlier post, \u201cThe Advice We need<\/a>.\u201d) Usually the advice is idiosyncratic. But over the past few months, such advice has taken on a disquieting sameness, something like this:<\/p>\n

It\u2019s time to ditch degrees as the focus of higher education. \u201cKnow-how,\u201d not book-knowledge, matters to employers and society. MOOCs, Khan Academy, and many other digital outposts enable the learner to tailor his or her learning to the acquisition of specific competences, such as bookkeeping, building spreadsheet models, or estimating an economic order quantity. Such tailoring democratizes learning by putting decisions about education in the hands of the learner. You learn what you want or need without all the extra stuff that some expert supposes you should learn. Credentials, such as bachelors and masters degrees, are authoritarian: someone else judges what\u2019s right for your learning and tells you what to study. There are too many hoops to jump through to get the typical college degree; most of these have nothing to do with being useful or making a living. University degrees dominate society today. They suppress innovation and the flow of talent to where it\u2019s needed. The revolution of competencies is coming. It will overthrow the credentialization of society and the institutions that promote it. Digital education is the spearhead of this revolution. Bring it on!<\/i><\/p>\n

Uh\u2026no. I doubt that we\u2019ll see the eclipse of diplomas and degree programs any time soon. Society still needs them. This blog post explains why.<\/p>\n

\u201cCredential\u201d derives from a Latin word, meaning to warrant creditworthiness, confidence, authority, status, or special rights and privileges. The Oxford English Dictionary<\/i> defines it as \u201ca qualification, achievement, quality, or aspect of a person\u2019s background, especially when used to indicate their suitability for something\u2026a document proving a person\u2019s identity or qualifications.\u201d A credential is typically a written document, for instance, a university degree. In modern business practice today, the term has a slightly archaic aroma. I can\u2019t remember the last time someone asked me for my \u201ccredentials\u201d though I\u2019m regularly asked for \u201csome I.D.,\u201d a passport, a credit card, or a membership card.<\/p>\n

Those who don\u2019t like academic degrees focus on \u201ccompetence\u201d instead. The Business Dictionary <\/i>defines it as:<\/p>\n

\u201cA cluster of related abilities, commitments, knowledge, and skills that enable a person (or an organization) to act effectively in a job or situation\u2026a sufficiency of knowledge and skills that enable someone to act in a wide variety of situations. Because each level of responsibility has its own requirements, competence can occur in any period of a person’s life or at any stage of his or her career.\u201d<\/p>\n

The concept of \u201ccompetence\u201d is one of the cornerstones of human resources management today: it defines the requisites for employment promotion, raise in compensation, and skills development. And since \u201ccompetent\u201d is better than \u201cincompetent,\u201d it is the basis for hiring or terminating employees. All of this supposes that competences are measurable, an assumption that is the wellspring of the employee assessment field. A focus on competences is so pragmatic, but fraught with issues. How was the competence defined? Who measured it? How? What are the standards for distinguishing \u201cjust OK\u201d from \u201cvery good?\u201d Does the competence you acquired in New York mean the same to an employer in Shanghai? Can the specifications for a competence be scaled across a large organization without losing their relevance for a particular job or individual?<\/p>\n

The problem with the opening sentiments is that they do not contrast competence from incompetence, but from credentials that are university degrees. But competences and credentials are not mutually exclusive. A valuable university degree probably requires the demonstration of a number of competences, such as written and oral communication.<\/p>\n

And a valuable university degree entails so much more<\/i>. Consider that a great educational experience envisions growth in three dimensions:<\/p>\n

\u00b7 Knowledge:<\/span> names, dates, formulas, mechanics of how things work. This is the \u201cknow what\u201d stuff of education. It is incredibly valuable because it frames the context for how one interprets one\u2019s experience.<\/p>\n

\u00b7 Skills:<\/span> public speaking, selling, negotiating, organizing a team, driving a car, fixing a leaky faucet. This is the \u201cknow how\u201d stuff of education and is the main focus of vocational schools.<\/p>\n

\u00b7 Attributes of character:<\/span> empathy, emotional intelligence, social awareness, work ethic, or personal integrity. This is the \u201cknow why\u201d stuff of education.<\/p>\n

Know what. Know how. Know why. The common definition of \u201ccompetence\u201d is so vague that it\u2019s hard to pin down into just one area; but I would say that it is mainly about skills (know how) and less about context (know what) or character (know why).<\/p>\n

Mastery of context and growth in character matter enormously in what it means to be an educated person. Knowledge is the foundation for pattern recognition, problem assessment and recommendation, and critical thinking. Consider the saying, \u201cTo a child with a hammer, every thing looks like a nail\u201d\u2014the child has a competence (hammering) but an inability to interpret her context in ways that discriminate actual nails from, say, a china vase.<\/p>\n

Character is the foundation for action-taking. One might suppose that human trafficking is a competence, but is it a worthy activity? We want people who understand the moral and social consequences of their competences and take actions that are ethical.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, a credential helps to define what it means to be a professional.<\/i> Fields such as engineering and medicine require a formal credential, a license, to practice. The license is based on passing entry exams and completing university degrees. Business is less formalized though graduate degrees (the MBA) and specialized field certifications (accounting with it\u2019s CPA and investing with its CFA) help to distinguish a higher level of professionalism for those who hold them. The business degrees and certifications are no guarantee against incompetence or unprofessional conduct, but they do suggest a higher level of achievement, mastery, and confidence in the individual.<\/p>\n

My point is this: it\u2019s not either <\/i>credentials or <\/i>competences; it\u2019s \u201cboth\u2026and.\u201d We want people to be both competent and worthy. To focus exclusively on competences is to focus a way of doing. Academic degrees embrace the doing and <\/i>they promote a way of thinking <\/i>about the world and even a way of being <\/i>in it: know what, know how, and know why.<\/p>\n

The current rage about competences is especially relevant to business schools. Some would argue that b-schools could save a lot of time, money, and effort by distilling their instruction into a few \u201chow to do it\u201d modules. But focusing on competences and ignoring context or wisdom is one of the root causes of Enron\u2019s collapse and the Global Financial Crisis. The world will be a better place if business leaders are broadly developed, and not just trained in a bunch of tools. Sure, the world needs people who are competent in the use of tools. But it also needs so much more. Don\u2019t settle only for competences; get a degree.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I regularly get cornered at a reception or dinner by an intense person who feels an urge to unload some unsolicited advice (N.B. see my earlier post, \u201cThe Advice We need.\u201d) Usually the advice is idiosyncratic. But over the past few months, such advice has taken on a disquieting sameness, something like this: It\u2019s time […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[60181],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1187","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-management-education"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nWhy do we need academic degrees? - Robert F. Bruner<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"May 9, 2013 - I regularly get cornered at a reception or dinner by an intense person who feels an urge to unload some unsolicited advice (N.B. see my earlier post, \u201cThe\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.darden.virginia.edu\/brunerblog\/2013\/05\/why-do-we-need-academic-degrees\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Robert F. Bruner - Why do we need academic degrees?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"May 9, 2013 - I regularly get cornered at a reception or dinner by an intense person who feels an urge to unload some unsolicited advice (N.B. see my earlier post, \u201cThe\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blogs.darden.virginia.edu\/brunerblog\/2013\/05\/why-do-we-need-academic-degrees\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Robert F. Bruner\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-05-09T09:18:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2013-09-18T19:15:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/blogs.darden.virginia.edu\/brunerblog\/files\/2021\/09\/Robert-Bruner-Blog-Header.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Bob Bruner\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Bob Bruner\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.darden.virginia.edu\\\/brunerblog\\\/2013\\\/05\\\/why-do-we-need-academic-degrees\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.darden.virginia.edu\\\/brunerblog\\\/2013\\\/05\\\/why-do-we-need-academic-degrees\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Bob Bruner\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.darden.virginia.edu\\\/brunerblog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/cf87f53e8194b3f8eb27b00eb3b83090\"},\"headline\":\"Why do we need academic degrees?\",\"datePublished\":\"2013-05-09T09:18:46+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-09-18T19:15:52+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.darden.virginia.edu\\\/brunerblog\\\/2013\\\/05\\\/why-do-we-need-academic-degrees\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":1195,\"commentCount\":2,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.darden.virginia.edu\\\/brunerblog\\\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Management Education\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.darden.virginia.edu\\\/brunerblog\\\/2013\\\/05\\\/why-do-we-need-academic-degrees\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.darden.virginia.edu\\\/brunerblog\\\/2013\\\/05\\\/why-do-we-need-academic-degrees\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.darden.virginia.edu\\\/brunerblog\\\/2013\\\/05\\\/why-do-we-need-academic-degrees\\\/\",\"name\":\"Why do we need academic degrees? - Robert F. Bruner\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.darden.virginia.edu\\\/brunerblog\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2013-05-09T09:18:46+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-09-18T19:15:52+00:00\",\"description\":\"May 9, 2013 - I regularly get cornered at a reception or dinner by an intense person who feels an urge to unload some unsolicited advice (N.B. see my earlier post, \u201cThe\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.darden.virginia.edu\\\/brunerblog\\\/2013\\\/05\\\/why-do-we-need-academic-degrees\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.darden.virginia.edu\\\/brunerblog\\\/2013\\\/05\\\/why-do-we-need-academic-degrees\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.darden.virginia.edu\\\/brunerblog\\\/2013\\\/05\\\/why-do-we-need-academic-degrees\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.darden.virginia.edu\\\/brunerblog\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Why do we need academic degrees?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.darden.virginia.edu\\\/brunerblog\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.darden.virginia.edu\\\/brunerblog\\\/\",\"name\":\"Robert F. Bruner\",\"description\":\"Darden School of Business\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.darden.virginia.edu\\\/brunerblog\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.darden.virginia.edu\\\/brunerblog\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.darden.virginia.edu\\\/brunerblog\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"UVA Darden School of Business Bob Bruner Blog\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.darden.virginia.edu\\\/brunerblog\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.darden.virginia.edu\\\/brunerblog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.darden.virginia.edu\\\/brunerblog\\\/files\\\/2022\\\/01\\\/darden_mngrm_shrt_h_rgb_200x500-01.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.darden.virginia.edu\\\/brunerblog\\\/files\\\/2022\\\/01\\\/darden_mngrm_shrt_h_rgb_200x500-01.png\",\"width\":1042,\"height\":417,\"caption\":\"UVA Darden School of Business Bob Bruner Blog\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.darden.virginia.edu\\\/brunerblog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.darden.virginia.edu\\\/brunerblog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/cf87f53e8194b3f8eb27b00eb3b83090\",\"name\":\"Bob Bruner\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.darden.virginia.edu\\\/brunerblog\\\/author\\\/bob-bruner\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Why do we need academic degrees? - Robert F. Bruner","description":"May 9, 2013 - I regularly get cornered at a reception or dinner by an intense person who feels an urge to unload some unsolicited advice (N.B. see my earlier post, \u201cThe","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/blogs.darden.virginia.edu\/brunerblog\/2013\/05\/why-do-we-need-academic-degrees\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Robert F. Bruner - Why do we need academic degrees?","og_description":"May 9, 2013 - I regularly get cornered at a reception or dinner by an intense person who feels an urge to unload some unsolicited advice (N.B. see my earlier post, \u201cThe","og_url":"https:\/\/blogs.darden.virginia.edu\/brunerblog\/2013\/05\/why-do-we-need-academic-degrees\/","og_site_name":"Robert F. Bruner","article_published_time":"2013-05-09T09:18:46+00:00","article_modified_time":"2013-09-18T19:15:52+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1600,"height":500,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.darden.virginia.edu\/brunerblog\/files\/2021\/09\/Robert-Bruner-Blog-Header.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Bob Bruner","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Bob Bruner","Est. reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.darden.virginia.edu\/brunerblog\/2013\/05\/why-do-we-need-academic-degrees\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.darden.virginia.edu\/brunerblog\/2013\/05\/why-do-we-need-academic-degrees\/"},"author":{"name":"Bob Bruner","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.darden.virginia.edu\/brunerblog\/#\/schema\/person\/cf87f53e8194b3f8eb27b00eb3b83090"},"headline":"Why do we need academic degrees?","datePublished":"2013-05-09T09:18:46+00:00","dateModified":"2013-09-18T19:15:52+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.darden.virginia.edu\/brunerblog\/2013\/05\/why-do-we-need-academic-degrees\/"},"wordCount":1195,"commentCount":2,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.darden.virginia.edu\/brunerblog\/#organization"},"articleSection":["Management Education"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/blogs.darden.virginia.edu\/brunerblog\/2013\/05\/why-do-we-need-academic-degrees\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.darden.virginia.edu\/brunerblog\/2013\/05\/why-do-we-need-academic-degrees\/","url":"https:\/\/blogs.darden.virginia.edu\/brunerblog\/2013\/05\/why-do-we-need-academic-degrees\/","name":"Why do we need academic degrees? - Robert F. Bruner","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.darden.virginia.edu\/brunerblog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2013-05-09T09:18:46+00:00","dateModified":"2013-09-18T19:15:52+00:00","description":"May 9, 2013 - I regularly get cornered at a reception or dinner by an intense person who feels an urge to unload some unsolicited advice (N.B. see my earlier post, \u201cThe","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.darden.virginia.edu\/brunerblog\/2013\/05\/why-do-we-need-academic-degrees\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/blogs.darden.virginia.edu\/brunerblog\/2013\/05\/why-do-we-need-academic-degrees\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.darden.virginia.edu\/brunerblog\/2013\/05\/why-do-we-need-academic-degrees\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/blogs.darden.virginia.edu\/brunerblog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Why do we need academic degrees?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.darden.virginia.edu\/brunerblog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/blogs.darden.virginia.edu\/brunerblog\/","name":"Robert F. Bruner","description":"Darden School of Business","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.darden.virginia.edu\/brunerblog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/blogs.darden.virginia.edu\/brunerblog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.darden.virginia.edu\/brunerblog\/#organization","name":"UVA Darden School of Business Bob Bruner Blog","url":"https:\/\/blogs.darden.virginia.edu\/brunerblog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.darden.virginia.edu\/brunerblog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/blogs.darden.virginia.edu\/brunerblog\/files\/2022\/01\/darden_mngrm_shrt_h_rgb_200x500-01.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/blogs.darden.virginia.edu\/brunerblog\/files\/2022\/01\/darden_mngrm_shrt_h_rgb_200x500-01.png","width":1042,"height":417,"caption":"UVA Darden School of Business Bob Bruner Blog"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.darden.virginia.edu\/brunerblog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.darden.virginia.edu\/brunerblog\/#\/schema\/person\/cf87f53e8194b3f8eb27b00eb3b83090","name":"Bob Bruner","url":"https:\/\/blogs.darden.virginia.edu\/brunerblog\/author\/bob-bruner\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.darden.virginia.edu\/brunerblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1187","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.darden.virginia.edu\/brunerblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.darden.virginia.edu\/brunerblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.darden.virginia.edu\/brunerblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.darden.virginia.edu\/brunerblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1187"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.darden.virginia.edu\/brunerblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1187\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.darden.virginia.edu\/brunerblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1187"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.darden.virginia.edu\/brunerblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1187"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.darden.virginia.edu\/brunerblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1187"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}