an obsessive fear of academics
or anyone else with any kind of tertiary qualification.
Lexi,
Sorry to make you run out of intelligent replies. You have obviously never had to prove your competence and/or worth in a practical essential service industry. I have & let me tell you that 95% percent of our difficulties at work stem from incompetent academic degree flashing engineers who can't figure out how mechanics & hydraulics work in reality. Then we have our degree flashing top bureaucrats who have the audacity to call themselves managers or CEO's.
That my dear girl is not a fear of anyone educated, it is a pain that is getting worse as the degrees these people accumulate. Their Uni indoctrinated ego will not let them concede that ordinary trades people happen to know how things work. It literally is a combination of education beyond comprehension & unwavering ego, just like those ex Lawyers in the Labor Party. That my girl is my gripes not a fear of educated people who happen to be vastly outnumbered since the big Goaf put the incompetent on the pedestal.

Dear Jayb and individual,

A higher credential
means higher earnings, simply because of the
value the job markets place on it.

If you look up the prestige rankings of various
occupations you'll notice that the most prestigious
jobs tend to be those that are known not only to
yield the highest incomes but also require the
longest education.

Studies have found that the most important factor
affecting whether a child achieved a higher status
than their parents was the amount of education that the
child attained. A high level of education is considered
a scarce and valued resource, for which people compete
vigorously. The remarkable expansion of
education in recent decades has less to do with the
demands of the economy than with competition for power,
wealth, and prestige. In their view, the pressure for ever
increasing credentials comes from two main sources: the
professions, which insist on high membership qualifications
as a means of protecting their own interests, and the
consumers of education, who want credentials to enhance their
career opportunities.

Of course there will be people who do not perform well in
their professions. We all know that the skills required to
get an A grade in a college or university course on
anatomy or education philosophy are not the same as the skills
needed to deal with a medical emergency or an unruly junior high
school class.

Most people pick up the necessary skills on the job, not in the
classroom, and the characteristics that make for a successful
career (such as initiative, leadership, drive, negotiating ability,
willingness to take risks, and persuasiveness) are not even
taught in the schools.

Our education system is regularly criticised for various failings;
currently they are being charged with allowing academic
standards to decline. There are several reasons for this
decline, and reform efforts are now focused on curricula
and teachers.

A high level of education is considered
a scarce and valued resource, for which people compete
vigorously.
Lexi,
That is something I'd support fully if it were ever implemented with the view of educating in order to exploit & build upon natural intelligence but it isn't so. It has become a case of who's parents can afford to buy more cartons of Cornflakes in order to get more degrees.
The daily encountered incompetence of the bearers of such degrees is nothing short of scary.
The handful of deserving bearers of Uni degrees must be just so disheartened at that.

Lexi: higher credential means higher earnings, simply because of the
value the job markets place on it.

Doesn't equate to having brains.

Credentials are just a scrap of paper. 90% of what they learnt at Uni. is useless in the real Workplace. They are getting paid under false pretences. Just look at the number of big Business's that go broke, run by these High earners. & that's considered to be successful. Have a look at the top tier of the Public Service.

Indy: The daily encountered incompetence of the bearers of such degrees is nothing short of scary. The handful of deserving bearers of Uni degrees must be just so disheartened at that.

You are not wrong. Just look at the boat ramp they put in at Buderim. $4.7 million?

RObert, "As for kids being a protected species when they act abusively"

No-one is suggesting that there shouldn't be reasonable boundaries and guidance.

However there is a chasm of difference between that and the shabby official and media treatment of this child minor.

She was subjected to the glare of TV cameras, even though media comemtators and producers must have realised her age, immediately detached from her carer, her nan, and forcibly marched off by accompanying male security staff for two hours interrogation (by police as well it seems) -all of whom would have realised her age- without representation or being given any rights that could be expected by a common criminal. Whereupon an admission of guilt by virtue of an apology was extracted from her and enthusiastically publicised, despite her statement that she tendered first off and couldn't be shaken on later by her interrogators, that she did not understand or mean the grievous insult she was accused of - she simply did not comprehend the alternative hidden racial meaning that the 34 yr old indigenous professional footballer read into the word 'ape'.

Maybe she should have aped the AFL crowd around her, yelling the officially sanctioned blue language, such as the "C" word, instead.

At minimum it should be accepted that:

- MCG and AFL administrators apparently do not have proper policy, procedures and training in place to manage the safety and behaviour of child and youth minors at their sporting venue/s; and

- self-regulation by the media is fine as long as leaders are prepared to step up and criticise unfair and slanted reporting, despite the big money in footy and advertising.

For volunteer work I held a 'blue card' for years.
http://www.ccypcg.qld.gov.au/bluecard/index.html

I couldn't even do garden maintenance under supervision where there are children without that blue card. Somehow I doubt that the security staff engaged by the MCG and AFL are required to have the same and training to handle children and youth. That is just one example of deficient policy and practices that should be critically examined following the sorry handling of this 'incident'.

Here's a link that may be of interest:

http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/editorial/adam-goodes-sets-an-example-for-all-20130530-2nehc.html