Credentialism often lends the ignorant undeserved prestige

Robert Pratt

In his famous Fact and Comment column Steve Forbes wrote: “When asked how a 2% rise in the cost of living – which would add an additional $1,000 in expenses annually for the average American family – would boost the economy, [the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco president John] Williams, with the insouciance of the obliviously ignorant, responded that the inflation would lead to a 3.5% rise in real wages. In other words, $1,000 in extra expenses would trigger a rise in a family’s income of almost $3,000. If only!” Forbes exclaimed.

The obliviously ignorant, with their accompanying insouciance, are running more of the world than any of us want to seriously admit. They hide behind credentials, a situation people like Jane Jacobs have warned of.

Jane Jacobs, best known for her masterpiece, “The Death and Life of Great American Cities,” spent much time before her death in 2006 on “credentialism”, specifically in higher education.

“Since the 1960s, says Jacobs, credentialing has become the primary business of higher learning. It has made higher education a growth industry, as an increasing percentage of Americans believe they must obtain an academic credential in order to be considered for a good job. Higher ed has stoked the idea that college grads earn more money than high school grads. The result: the higher education industry now enrolls far more students than can profit from a degree, and a new class of debtors is emerging in American society,” summarized James Bacon.

The result of the public giving deference to the lettered-classes, the credentialed, is that you end up with supreme ignoramuses holding key positions such as John Williams at the Federal Reserve Bank.

I’ve rarely been impressed with titles or degrees, I’m more interested in what someone believes and what they have done outside the formality of institutions.

It’s something to consider of candidates for public office too.