In the interests of protecting the innocent I will speak in generic terms
Let's just say, hypothetically I have a friend who knows someone, whose husband is a mid-level manager at the regional office of one of the top 5 banks in the country. You know, the type of bank that has recorded record profits by kicking families out of their homes and withholding loans from legitimate business owners. As if the whole credit default cluster was OUR fault.
Ok, so this mythical person, let's call him Matt, is in his early 40's, a really great guy. Worked at this bank for 10+ years. He's a devoted husband, has a son and daughter, and is the kind of neighbor you dream of having - Olivia Wilde aside.
Matt pretty much sums up the American dream. While he didn't exactly grow up in a slum, it would be accurate to say he has come a long way baby. That is of course until he smacked face first into a glass ceiling so impenetrable he could just as easily have been an Hispanic lesbian. Yeah, sure -- that still doesn't happen.
Matt was just up for a substantial promotion - not an incremental bump, but a career and lifestyle changing opportunity. Important enough that he was flown to corporate HQ. Went through the interviews, wore a nice tie, barked and wagged his tail at all the right times.
At the end of the day, the hiring manager shook his hand and said, "you're our guy. You'll hear back soon." As Matt turned on his heels, the boss had an afterthought." You do have your four
year degree yes?" My hypothetical friend's friend's fictional husband was standing there facing a career moment. He had no choice but be ethical and tell the truth, "no."
She looked at him with a long face and said, "oh, I wish I hadn't asked that question. I'm sorry. We can't give you the new position. A four year degree is required."
This bothers me so much I don't even know where to begin.
- I'd hire Matt in a heartbeat. He is a leader and a thinker.
- If the education criterion was so important, why didn't they check before the interview?
- Isn't it the least bit ironic that they were about to select him ahead of the more "appropriate" candidates?
- I don't know about you, but an awful lot of my time and course work in school was pretty much a joke. As if my two science pre-requisites and experimental music class mattered.
While requiring a post graduate degree would be almost as annoying, at least that doesn't screen only those people who weren't fortunate enough to be in a position to attend college at that early juncture of their life. Asking for an MBA, JD etc at least says, "we can only consider a tiny % of applicants."
Requiring college is code for discriminating against those very people whom old white men hate 
to see join them at the country club. Think Trading Places - a movie that could never be made in these politically correct times. But that's a separate post. Back to Matt.
Wouldn't it make sense for the bank to require a degree from all entry level applicants? Oh, of course not. How could the ultimate capitalist institution maximize its profits if it had to pay all its employees at college graduate rates?
If someone enters their system without a degree, how can they hold it against them if they work hard, are loyal and receive numerous promotions? Because it rattles the egos and psyches of those very same guardians of the establishment. "He is not my peer, he didn't attend an institution of higher education." Yeah right. Should we break down the Forbes 500 and cite some of the college and high school dropouts?
- Bill Gates
- Mark Zuckerberg
- Richard Branson
- Paul Allen
- Steve Jobs
- Ralph Lauren
- David Geffen
In an era where the Internet delivers the ultimate Encyclopedia Britannica to anyone with the desire to learn, are you really going to tell me that a degree is anything more than a label? A convenient box for the HR Manager to check that ensures the work force remains bifurcated by the context of their upbringing. For the record, I didn't learn big words like bifurcated in college. I was fortunate, I learned them by working in my dad's law office every summer.
You have no idea how much I'd like to scald this bank publicly but then Matt would inevitably suffer the repercussions. The only thing spineless hypocrites hate more than people unlike themselves, are those who dare to show the world what pond scum they are. No, I'd rather turn my attention to verifying whether all the Bank's Directors got the Degrees they claim to have. Stay tuned.
