Posts tagged with peter.

High-school dropout named titular head of Canadian university

Joey Coleman, November 9, 2009 at 3:16 PM

 

Mount Allison University announced today that Peter Mansbridge will be the next Chancellor of the Sackville, N.B., school.

 

The appointment of Mansbridge, a well-known media personality, is generating a lot of attention for the small liberal arts university; exactly what a university is looking for when it appoints a new titular head.

 

A titular head who is well-known and well-connected serves the institution well. One who is connected in Toronto, a.k.a. the centre of the Canadian universe, is essential to a small institution located in the Maritimes. Mansbridge is the perfect ambassador for any organization.

 

In short, Mt. A has achieved a coup and succeeded in the public relations game. (There's nothing the media loves covering more than ourselves.)

 

Mansbridge is successful and achieved. A good dose of very hard work combined with a great dose of luck has propelled him to the top of the Canadian journalism food chain, but it had nothing to do with education.

 

He is a high school dropout. 

 

He does not hold a bachelor's degree and did not attend university. He famously received his chance at success because of his baritone voice. His is a story of success that  contradicts the message that one needs post-secondary education to succeed.

 

Forbes Magazine recently published a listing of billionaires by alma mater. Topping the list, not surprisingly - considering that most billionaires are born into some privilege - is Harvard, with 54 billionaires. Second place went to no university with 46 billionaires not holding any degree.

 

There will always be exceptions to the averages of society. The reality is a bachelor's degree or college diploma is the new high-school diploma; the common person cannot succeed without it.

 

The question I ask in all of this is not the value of the undergraduate degree; it is whether there should be academic requirements to sign and hand out degrees?

 

My answer: yes. The Chancellor should hold an earned degree. It is for this reason that Mansbridge is unqualified to be Chancellor of any university.

 

Poll: As a high school dropout, is the CBC's Peter Mansbridge qualified to become a university chancellor?

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