Julian658 wrote:Outliers are outliers. That is why they are called outliers. If the success story described above was not an anecdote then it would be common and not an outlier. An exception to the rule or an anecdote does not prove a point.
Exceptions to rules do not invalidate the rule, of course...but in your selective quoting you conveniently ignored the statement earlier in that passage that said:
I have lost count over the years of the number of soldiers I have encountered who were clearly highly intelligent, but who had been systematically failed by our education system and joined up as 'foot soldiers', without any formal qualifications.
And if you want peer-reviewed, academic references to support how common this phenomenon is, I have plenty. What you cited was, of course, anecdotal but it was offered as one personal example
of many. I have no idea about your credentials Julian, but I have been a soldier for thirty-five years (twenty-seven of which as an officer) and one of my two masters degrees is in Education. I am a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and a former Research Fellow of a leading UK research institute dedicated to studying military veterans. On this side of the pond, it is accepted that many soldiers joining up with superficially poor intellects do in fact have much more about them than their lack of formal qualifications might indicate, which points to the failings in our primary and secondary education systems but also in our societal attitudes to education more widely. To our government's credit (and I'm generally frugal in affording our government any credit) they know this and have put initatives in place to compensate for soldiers' poor educational backgrounds and enable bright individuals to progress to degree level and beyond.
An advanced degree in social work is a dime a dozen diploma. It is an issue of supply and demand.
This sort of nonsense is a popular fallacy, usually perpetrated by those who erroneously believe that only STEM subjects have any academic merit.
As well as being a clinician and an educator, I am also qualified in personnel selection for the UK military. I can therefore assert with a high degree of confidence that unless a role requires a particular degree subject as an entry requirement, the specific subject of a degree is irrelevant to military recruiters (and o many civilian recruiters too). In the military at least, we would rather select someone with a first class honours degree in flower-arranging than a candidate with a marginal 2:2 in physics or engineering.
The reason why illuminates the fallacy above. Particularly at bachelors' level, the subject of any given award is less important than the demonstrated ability of the holder to think critically and analytically. That's because in reality, a first degree is not teaching you a subject, per se, but teaching you how to learn and more specifically how to critically analyse and synthesise information into a balanced, informed and evidence-based conclusion.
A candidate for employment with a first class honours degree
in anything has ably demonstrated that. A candidate with a good 2:1 has demonstrated it sufficiently to be seriously considered. A candidate with a 2:2 (or worse, a third) has just been cruising through university for the experience and ticking the boxes along the way. They will doubtless know something about their chosen subject, but they have failed to acquire sufficient skills in critical analysis to capitalise on their award.
As an aside, since you appear to denigrate the social sciences, (Warning! Anecdote alert!) a friend of mine who was formerly my Corps Regimental Sergeant Major is now a social worker and close to completing their PhD. Another friend - and former student of mine - is a Royal Marine Sgt Major and a qualified social worker. This latter example is interesting because he is an example of some fine decision-making by the Royal Navy. We do not employ uniformed social workers in HM Armed Forces (the US do, btw) so to get around that, the RN sponsor those they employ in welfare roles to undertake social work degrees on a part-time basis, alongside their daily work, thus populating the RN and Royal Marines with welfare officers who are also qualified social workers. The British Army are late (as usual!) to the party, but even they are now offering part-time social work degrees to Army Welfare Services staff.
And the further acquisition of a masters degree is evidence of the individual's ability to not only know their subject, but to have taken their critical analysis skills to a higher level. a 'dime a dozen diploma' it isn't.