Credentialism in China

The Shengda College graduating class of 2006 rioted because their diplomas had Shengda College written on them. The students had been promised that they would be getting degrees from Zhengzhou University.

I've never heard of either of these schools, but I can imagine the horror if people expecting degrees from Havard University instead got diplomas from Eastern Massachusetts Community College.

Although the different name on the diploma has no impact on on the graduates' actual knowledge or job skills, apparently in China, as in the U.S., employers value the credential a lot more than they value actual ability to do the job. So the graduates are rightly upset, because the name change on the diploma will probably have huge negative economic consequences for the rest of their lives.

Comments

[Peter]

The Harvard University --> Eastern Massachusetts C.C. analogy isn't quite on point, as a community college is a different type of entity than a university. Not to mention that "Harvard" is a uniquely valuable brand name.

A number of "colleges" in the United States have become "universities" in recent decades. For instance, the four Connecticut state colleges (Eastern, Western, Southern and Central) became universities in the 1990's, a decision which AFAIK was motivated more by a quest for status than by any real change in the institutions' academic missions. Whether names changes of this sort have had any measurable effect on the employment/graduate school admissions prospects of graduates would be very interesting to know. I've no idea if there's been any research into this question, however.

[SciFiGeek]

It's closer to Harvard-> Tufts or BU. I'd still be very angry, though I guess not quite as much.

[Randall Parker]

Employers do not put credentials above ability to do the job. Rather, they use credentials as a rough proxy for IQ.

They'd use more direct measures of ability if it was not so legally problematic to do so. But liberals - in their never-ending quest to screw up society - do not want employers to use more accurate measures of ability.

[Big Bill]

Parker's got a point.

Grades and school of record are the only useful criteria available.

Recommendations are fraught with legal liability as are the use of IQ or other aptitude tests.

Witness how that Virginia city (Virginia Beach?) recently got its p@cker whacked by the courts because the basic spelling, reading and ciphering tests it used flunked too many minorities.

[The Superfluous Man]

I agree with Mr. Parker (and wrote to him about it before), but then I wonder why in God's name do the Chinese employers not administer IQ tests? Of course, the Zhengzhou students are in all probability better on average.

A funny note: I read an article which discussed various methods for predicting productivity (http://www.owlnet.rice.edu/~psyc231/Readings/schmidt.htm), and it said that France and Israel use graphology - handwriting analysis, which is completely meaningless. So it could be worse.