Charles Hayes in his book titled, “Proving You’re Qualified” discusses keeping a portfolio (pp. 109-111) as a means of demonstrating competence. Toward that end he states, “It’s as if you were building a case for a courtroom, trying to convince a judge and jury of your learned competence. Better yet, think of it as one of those television commercials where the competitor’s product gets blown away. That’s essentially what you need to do. Prove your learning beyond doubt.”
This is good advice for the person pursuing higher learning in the home education mode and not difficult to accomplish. The main ingredients are a well formatted list of accomplishments and an orderly presentation of the actual evidence. To bring a bit more formality to the portfolio, one could use the curriculum vita style with an accompanying file of evidence, which is exactly what professors use to demonstrate their accomplishments and competence.
The book is otherwise full of helpful perspectives on the modern learning and credentialing systems which undermine both the quality of learning and the effectiveness of businesses. Here are a few of my favorite quotes:
Regarding portfolio acceptance by employers, “I have discussed this issue with personnel managers who admit to being extremely impressed with candidates who present such material for consideration during an interview. As you can imagine, the candidate who can furnish a life’s worth of documented accomplishments compared to the one who just sort of shows up to be interviewed is likely to blow the competition away. Documented accomplishments gives a prospective employer precise reasons to consider the candidate and to be confident that hiring this person would be less of a risk than hiring someone with potential by no track record. p. 111
“Experience can be documented and presented in a way that can be more convincing than paper certificates or diplomas from institutions.” p. 100
“People who learn to write well do so, in large part, by reading. People who learn to speak well do so by talking. The passive nature of traditional education is one of the greatest tragedies of the system.” p. 91
“If people obtain credentials without genuine interest in their subjects, they will not remember what everyone else assumes they already know.” p. 84
“Given spotlight attention, genuine competence has a way of showing itself…” p. 81
“American business organizations would be far more efficient, effective, and dynamic, if the educational histories of all employees were expunged from personnel records immediately upon hire and were never spoken of again. Then, if an individual’s schooling had in reality conferred a practical advantage, that person’s superior performance should prove it beyond doubt.” p. 79
“…almost no time in traditional education trying to discover our own individual talents and how they differ from the talents of others.” p. 76
“To squander an education for the sole purpose of acquiring credentials is equivalent to eating for the sole purpose of gaining weight.” p. 76
“… higher education’s external push to qualify people for jobs often inhibits they very learning necessary for enabling knowledge and developing competence. Knowledge, not college, is what we need in the workplace and in our personal lives.” p. 75
“The acceptance of cheating by so many students in order to pass in college appears to be supported, in part, by the unconscious belief that many tests, and maybe even some of the courses, are irrelevant…the concept of “cheating” reveals a fundamental flaw in the way students are “taught.” p. 70
“…being motivated by grades is not related to a thirst for knowledge. Moreover there is little doubt that extrinsic rewards reduce intrinsic satisfaction. In effect, grades have become the purpose of education. People search for approval instead of knowledge; when the grades stop, so does their inquiry.” p 69
“Occupational regulation has served to limit consumer choice, raise consumer costs … deprive the poor of adequate services, and restrict job opportunities for minorities – all without a demonstrated improvement in quality or safety of the licensed activities.” p. 68
“There is a significant amount of malpractice which is exacerbated by the very structure of our system of qualification: the license to practice medicine grants a physician the right to engage in malpractice until he or she dies.” p. 65 “ I would rather see a statement providing evidence of a surgeon’s success ratio of operations performed than a framed medical license on the wall. p. 64
“Modern studies of primitive people and evidence left behind indicate that hunter-gather societies sustained themselves nicely on about four hours of what we would call work each day.” p. 40
“Indisputable competence is becoming important, really important, perhaps for the first time in the history of American business… The new bottom line is going to demand that we recognize competence regardless of its educational source.” p. 36
“People who might have naturally been [dominant in personality] … can be held to the roles of subordinates in today’s organizations because of the arbitrary natural of credentials.” p. 33
“Drucker argues that the emphasis is changing ‘from teaching to learning’ and that ‘learning is as personal as fingerprints; no two people learn exactly alike.’” p. 23
The benefits of a decredentialed society would include:” ..classroom theory would be better balanced with hands-on experience…actual performance would fall under the scrutiny of many associates, providing significant feedback …the time required for and therefore the cost of, formal education would be greatly reduced…there would be no reason to hoard knowledge…the public would view working people with much more respect…could achieve what Abraham Maslow called the ideal college which would be a place of essential self-discovery…having fewer people trapped in jobs they hate…pp. 21-22
“There is nothing you cannot find out and learn on your own, if you desire to know is strong enough. Nothing.” p. 19
“It is not surprising, then that educational credentials are most heavily emphasized within organizations stressing normative control – that is, cultural socialism.” p.17
“Credentialing tends to devalue inquiry…Credentials act as barriers to thinking." p. 13
Quoting from Ivan Illich, “Certification now tends to abridge the freedom of education by converting the civil right to share one’s knowledge into the privilege of academic freedom….The right to teach any skill should come under the protection of freedom of speech.” p. 11
“The vast majority of the so-called research turned out in the modern university is essentially worthless.” p. 8
“Meanwhile educational institutions, both public and private, continue to promote passivity among students even though self-directed employees are what businesses really need.” p. 8
Pondering these quotes and what the Scriptures teach about credentials reminded me of Paul's word in Philippians 3...
Though I might also have confidence in the flesh. If any other man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more: Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee;
Concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless. But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead. Philippians 3:4-11
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