I had an experience yesterday that has caused me to contemplate what it means to be qualified for a position. I feel that at times we put too much stock in credentials and formal education, particularly in the education field (there could be others as well but my main experience has been with education).
It is my opinion that too often people jump through the hoops to get credentialed, and they manage to become credentialed without becoming educated and/or effective. If all it took was credentials for educators to become effective, we wouldn't be facing the education crisis we are now facing.
None of this is to say that I don't value education per se. In fact I value it so much it is disheartening to see how schooling can destroy education. It is also disheartening when so much emphasis is put on credentials that a self-educated person who is passionate and committed might be discounted or overlooked who could possibly be even more effective in a position.
Showing posts with label credentials. Show all posts
Showing posts with label credentials. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
One Solitary Life
In Martin Luther King's speech The Drum Major's Instinct he recited the poem by James Francis called One Solitary Life. Felt that it described beautifully what credentials one must have to serve and how one life can make a difference. Therefore, today I share this poem.
Here is a man who was born in an obscure village, the child of a peasant woman. He grew up in another obscure village. He worked in a carpenter shop until He was thirty, and then for three years He was an itinerant preacher. He never wrote a book. He never held an office.
He never owned a home. He never set foot inside a big city. He never traveled two hundred miles from the place where He was born. He had no credentials but Himself.
While still a young man, the tide of popular opinion turned against Him. His friends ran away. One of them denied Him. He was turned over to His enemies. He went through the mockery of a trial. He was nailed upon a cross between two thieves.
His executioners gambled for the only piece of property He had on earth while He was dying -- and that was His coat. When He was dead, He was taken down and laid in a borrowed grave through the pity of a friend.
Nineteen wide centuries have come and gone and today He is the centerpiece of the human race and the leader of progress. I am far within the mark when I say that all the armies that ever marched, and all the navies that ever were built, and all the parliaments that ever sat, and all the kings that ever reigned, put together have not affected the life of man upon this earth as powerfully as that One Solitary Life.
by James A. Francis
Here is a man who was born in an obscure village, the child of a peasant woman. He grew up in another obscure village. He worked in a carpenter shop until He was thirty, and then for three years He was an itinerant preacher. He never wrote a book. He never held an office.
He never owned a home. He never set foot inside a big city. He never traveled two hundred miles from the place where He was born. He had no credentials but Himself.
While still a young man, the tide of popular opinion turned against Him. His friends ran away. One of them denied Him. He was turned over to His enemies. He went through the mockery of a trial. He was nailed upon a cross between two thieves.
His executioners gambled for the only piece of property He had on earth while He was dying -- and that was His coat. When He was dead, He was taken down and laid in a borrowed grave through the pity of a friend.
Nineteen wide centuries have come and gone and today He is the centerpiece of the human race and the leader of progress. I am far within the mark when I say that all the armies that ever marched, and all the navies that ever were built, and all the parliaments that ever sat, and all the kings that ever reigned, put together have not affected the life of man upon this earth as powerfully as that One Solitary Life.
by James A. Francis
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