"The value of a degree is in its RELIABILITY: when ill in a foreign country you can bet the MD has minimal competence. Like a driver's license.
HUMANITIES/SOCIAL SCIENCE degrees offer no reliability.
If you don't know what you get, degrees are worthless.
The market punishes BS"(Taleb 2018).
Source: https://x.com/nntaleb/status/1047750571242008578?s=20
You’ve actually posted THREE separate statements! Reliability is pretty much desired for any activity or process in life. Thus, the reliability of anything has a major impact on its perceived value.
Academic degrees and other Certifications are really just the equivalent of money in economics. They are tokens of the value of something else that may be traded for other values. As such, the particular “degree” is subject to the same qualifiers as monetary values in foreign exchange or domestic use. Reliability in use may or may not correlate to reliability in relative value. That is why exchange rates vary constantly, and internal issues like inflation impact the reliability of money’s value as well. Yet, for the most part, the “reliability” of money is solid as a medium of exchange.
So, not all degrees and certifications are necessarily equal in value in the marketplace of ideas or employment. Despite attempts to set up particular standards in different disciplines, the actual “certified” education or knowledge of someone in a particular field will vary depending on both the particular country a person was educated in, and often also the particular institution at which they studied.
Meeting minimum requirements can assure some level of confidence in the general public, but that also leaves a usually large range of abilities between those that have minimal competency and those who are truly experts. So, the actual competence of a “degreed” medical doctor at a clinic in a remote area may be quite a bit different from the competence expected from a medical doctor at a highly-respected hospital in a major city of a wealthy country.
The “value” of any certification also depends on the individual consumer. Many people are verfiably helped by the services of degreed and certified social workers of various types. Family and friend networks are great – maybe esential – but for some problems (maybe it IS the family!) the assistance and guidance of someone specifically trained and tested in aspect of social relationships cannot be duplicated.
The proliferation of “Diploma Mills” or other questionable certification services does make the “face value” of a degree more questionable. But the degree should just be the starting point of evaluation! If you stop there, any consequences are really your own fault. Verification of the schools legitimacy, the actual record of the person holding the degree, and any other work/social history of the person must be obtained and evaluated against your requirements.
In general, any person needs to provide some evidence that they are capable of meeting the requirements of an employer. Any employer must decide what evidence is acceptable. One of those pieces of evidence may be a degree or certification. It is NOT certain that such documents are particularly reliable unless backed up by reputable institutions.
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