Quote of the Day: Credentials

Benjamin Franklin’s formal education ended when he was 10 years old. There were no economics departments or doctorates anywhere in the world when Alexander Hamilton, who was unable to complete his undergraduate studies at the then-Kings College of New York (now Columbia), designed the first central bank of the United States. None of the Founding Fathers were as well credentialed or thoroughly vetted as utterly mediocre, run-of-the-mill lawyers and political scientists are today. Armed only with his genius and his scanty formal educational credentials, a young John Marshall could not land an interview, much less a job, with a major American law firm today. Neither Ulysses Grant nor Robert Lee held a doctorate or had any formal professional training after graduating from West Point. Their lack of credentials would ensure that neither, today, would be considered for senior command in any branch of the armed forces. Through most of the 19th century, American colleges and even elite universities did not require doctoral degrees of their faculty. Today, however, a person with George Washington’s educational credentials could not get a job teaching the third grade in any public school in the United States. Walter Russell Mead, https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/twilight-wonks-walter-russell-mead

In our over-credentialed culture, there is a growing danger of squelching true innovation while promoting timid mediocrity. Someone like Elon Musk is rare these days. When I read novels set in the first half of the twentieth century (Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, et al.), I'm struck by how common it was for a character to have a chemical or mechanical engineering lab in his house. Could a Thomas Edison even exist today? His home-based research facilities would probably violate his homeowners' association's regulations!