Re: Of graduates, fake degrees and national pride
a non-Pakistani view:
Imposing a college degree requirement is unfair. In addition to taking away the opportunity to serve from a lot of people, it assumes that a mere college degree will somehow ensure quality (and that those without such a degree are useless).
Degree does not mean that a person knows the subject well or should work in the subject a person done his/her degree. Degree is training and once trained by getting degree a person achieves certain level of quality. It is a sign that a person value education, could go through exam pressures, have ability to think and can put thoughts on paper such that others can understand (express themselves), have enough intelligence to understand and solve complicated problems, can argue with some degree of knowledge and logic ... and so on. [Though it does not mean all do acquire these qualities, but best students do, and in the end that is what training is all about, some get maximum out of it and some achieve just enough, while some could stay 'kora kay kora' even after getting all education and training].
Even amongst uneducated masses, they naturally choose a person to lead them who has education, as all accept and expect that an educated person would be able to lead most appropriately and effectively.
Only people with money can normally contest election in third world and if a person that contest election do not have degree, it shows that the person even when that person has money and opportunity to get education, do not care about education or finds difficulty in learning, understanding and knowing stuff or do not want to work hard to learn. It is pathetic that such person should lead a country neither such person is expected to lead nation properly, in right direction with wisdom and knowledge.
University degree in western world is becoming silent requirement for almost all jobs. Many countries are trying to make degree a mandatory requirement in life of their citizen.
If a country has to develop and get progress then I believe that a degree for parliamentarians should be essential so that people in parliament can think, analyse and with their knowledge, hard work and ability to learn, could come with best solution to the problem a country faces.
Actually, it does not mean that someone with degree only has ability, but degree is just a documentary proof of a level of ability. A person may not get opportunity to do a degree but it is possible that his learning, experiences, and life achievements could be such that the person might have trained himself and gained ability much better than a graduate, as that ability is important. But that is exceptional and thus if a country really wants to get developed then quality representation for a country in parliament is essential and that means to have requirement of University degree.
