Credentialism: RIP?

Are credentials still useful?

noun: credentialism
belief in or reliance on academic or other formal qualifications as the best measure of a person's intelligence or ability to do a particular job."credentialism is to a large degree responsible for people assuming that they need a degree"

For over a century, our world has been run by people with formal qualifications (with a few exceptions). At first it was just basic college degrees, then more advanced university studies. Then in the past 40-50 years professional societies and states learned that they could make money “certifying” people who worked in professions and trades. So today everyone from hairdressers to engineers need some type of credential to make a living.

In the same period that we began certifying the trades, we ramped up the complexity of our bureaucracies and moved to group think mode. “Credentialed” people formed committees and told us what we should and shouldn’t do, what is good and bad for our health, what we should be doing with our homes, what our kids should and shouldn’t learn in school, etc.

It reached such a frenzy that when two people start debating science on social media one of them eventually seemed to ask about the “credentials” of the other. What we have learned recently is it is probably better to ask, “What is your direct experience?” If a person’s experience is with some large organization or a board it might be good to ask some probing questions, especially about the breadth of experience. Sometimes people in positions of authority know very little about the nuts and bolts of the operation or organization they oversee. This is especially common on school boards, county commissions, city councils, and in the legislature because these people are relying on others to provide them with accurate data and information (often in areas that are significantly out of their area of expertise).

Recently it has become obvious that what we really need is people who knows the subject and are not biased. For example, I would rather have an electrician that has been mentored for five years by an experienced person than someone just out of trade school with all kinds of certifications. And with most scientific subjects, I want to know that the person is not receiving money from someone with a vested interest.

For example, it is very hard to trust data out of the CDC because the scientists receive royalties on work that is successfully commercialized. Also, we have seen a plethora of university research that has been modified to look more positive than it really is. As examples, there have been issues with the President of Stanford University (had to resign over falsified research) and bogus data in research studies at Duke University.

And worst of all, the country has now become very divided. About half believes a “credential” means very little and that everything needs to be verified. The other half still believes what doctors, lawyers, and scientists says without question. It will be interesting to see if credentialism is really dead or if it will just change to meet the new paradigm.