Friday 16 December 2016

Lithium Credentialism Power


Was looking for some Lithium AA batteries on Amazon.


Look just above the star rating - used batteries?

All police officers will now be required to have a degree in policing. Can't but help feel that  the creeping professionalisation of what were once seen as 'jobs' means that government is making the job market more and more restrictive and reducing the talent pool of those who have plenty of aptitude but lack the academic trait. It happened with nursing and yet I can't remember anyone ever saying that nurses were incompetent before they had to have degrees. 

What next? A degree to become a squaddie, a degrees in plumbing? I'm probably speaking too soon and somewhere out there you can get a degree in plumbing. Specialisation is good in certain circumstances, but there are many jobs where a bit of common sense and dedication is all that's required - you learn on the job.

I guess that if you're forced to invest in specialisation then the desire to leave that specialisation is reduced by both economic necessity (the cost of obtaining a degree) and the fact you won't be qualified for any of the increasing number of jobs that also require a degree. Rather than it making a job more attractive to aid recruitment, you're, in effect, narrowing the market and locking someone into a job for life - and invariably a public service job. That's not a good thing, unless the job is reasonably well paid. Of course, if you have to obtain a degree for your job then you're going to want a higher salary too. A double edged sword. Will this come back to bite the authorities in the bum?


2 comments:

Steve Borthwick said...

or... degrees aren't what they used to be :)

Chairman Bill said...

Not since they went centigrade!