This is such a sad story. The TL;DR version is that people outside the cities of India seek to improve their standing in life by asserting scientific prowess and lying about their achievements. In the US a similar effect can be seen by people cheating on standardized tests, and faking their "origin story" to get accepted into "good" Universities.
What is sad is that people could be doing the work that their lying implies but they don't. And that seems tied to the expectations set for them which value "scores" over "ability."
My daughter in grade school conspired with a friend to cheat on a test. I found out about it and was really angry with her. We sat down and I tried to patiently explain that I didn't care if she got B's and C's and D's if she had actually worked to learn the material. And if the material wasn't understandable to come to me and we would brainstorm and implement ideas that would try to break through that impenetrability. That experience helped shut down misconceptions that my "pride" in my kids was because they scored highly on tests, and replaced it with an understanding that what I was proud of was how much they had learned and how much effort they put into that understanding.
That leads to the second thing which saddens me about this article is that the "problem" of praising scores over abilities and effort is with the parents and not the children. An outreach program to parents is unlikely to succeed if they are of the mindset "Well the other parents are going to cheat and their children will get the top spots while my child tries to get their honestly? No way, I'm not a sucker."
That reminds me of the kid in Florida who's gotten busted three or four times after setting up and running his own medical clinic as a fake MD. He even billed insurances. It takes a lot of work to set up your own clinic! It makes me wonder if he applied himself to academics instead of the fraud if he would have been able to get into and graduate med school. https://www.abcactionnews.com/news/state/fake-teen-doctor-ar...
In my case, I am a high school dropout with a GED, and a bit of tech school. I've looked up a lot of noses, during my career.
I've never hidden the fact, but also never made a big deal of it (until now, because I am no longer looking for work). I don't mind saying it, because it may help folks that are struggling, to power through the bad times, and help folks who want to hate me, to have something to latch onto (you're welcome).
If you don't have educational cred, people treat you like garbage. I can understand why folks would do the "stolen valor" thing. I also think it's idiotic. You'll get called on your BS, sooner or later. Even if you never do, you’ll spend your whole life, looking over your shoulder.
I’ve never claimed qualifications that I can’t back up, but I also have a great deal of very real material, available to peruse[0]. The fact that almost no one ever actually looks at it, tells me that it’s fairly easy to slide by, on BS. I’m an awful liar, so it’s important that I have something to show. It’s funny, when people actually start looking at my work, I get very surprised reactions. They just assumed I was idly boasting. That sort of makes me sad. I feel like Integrity and personal Honor are anachronistic.
In my case, I'm smarter than the average bear. I've also got a real knee-jerk reaction to being bullied and challenged. It helped me to power through the shitstorms. The best way to get me to do good work, is tell me that I'm not worthy. I'll master the job, just to shove it down your gob. I feel that all the adversity helped me to be a top-shelf engineer. I could never convince anyone before the fact. I had to present people with fait accompli; which also means that I’ve had a lot of my work shitcanned. That which does not kill you, leaves you weak and exhausted, or something…
I'm not 100% sure what the answer is. Maybe if education could partner more with vocation. I'm not bitter for not getting a chance at an Ivy-League school, like my older siblings (I actually did quite well, despite); but I know that my path would have been a lot smoother, with the sheepskin. I credit the redneck tech school that I attended for teaching me some serious work ethic, and that was probably the best education I had.
Almost everything I have learned in my career has been since leaving school (and it's still going on, now).
I've known a number of people who either had only a GED or a high school diploma who were amazingly talented. The flip side of exam based evaluation practiced by Universities is the work based evaluations practiced by trade unions. I had a summer job where I got to work with some masons who constantly amazed me with their skill, their depth of knowledge, and the quality of their work. And none of them had more than a high school education and at least one had immigrated with about an 8th grade education.
I have similarly worked with both software and hardware engineers who developed their skills entirely self taught and I have always felt that a trade union approach could be a good way to both hone one's craft and eliminate the shenanigans that goes on with degree comparisons.
The current state of affairs, especially with regard to software and qualifications, does not feel tenable long term. I would hire a high school drop out who was a software journeyman over someone who lied and cheated their way through a four year degree program any day of the week. But we don't have such programs yet.
What is sad is that people could be doing the work that their lying implies but they don't. And that seems tied to the expectations set for them which value "scores" over "ability."
My daughter in grade school conspired with a friend to cheat on a test. I found out about it and was really angry with her. We sat down and I tried to patiently explain that I didn't care if she got B's and C's and D's if she had actually worked to learn the material. And if the material wasn't understandable to come to me and we would brainstorm and implement ideas that would try to break through that impenetrability. That experience helped shut down misconceptions that my "pride" in my kids was because they scored highly on tests, and replaced it with an understanding that what I was proud of was how much they had learned and how much effort they put into that understanding.
That leads to the second thing which saddens me about this article is that the "problem" of praising scores over abilities and effort is with the parents and not the children. An outreach program to parents is unlikely to succeed if they are of the mindset "Well the other parents are going to cheat and their children will get the top spots while my child tries to get their honestly? No way, I'm not a sucker."