The trend of chasing paper

These few days, there has been many reports on people getting cheated when enrolling in institutions to get a degree, be it a normal one, or Masters/PHD. Recently there has also been reports of someone getting a PHD in an unaccredited university.

I believe the mindset of the generation nowadays is to get a paper no matter what. My advice to them is to look at the big picture. Why?

Many of the papers out there are just "stepping-stones". It's the knowledge of where these stones are that counts. That means the knowledge that you gain from these courses.

You have to look carefully at the structure of the courses, and see whether do you learn anything out of it. I've interviewed people who studied a particular language for 1 year (degree), but when I ask questions regarding that area, they could not even answer a simple question that can be easily answered by a diploma holder. Worst still, they are learning things that are outdated.

I've also realised that many nowadays just study for the sake of studying. At the moment before the exam, they might know everything about the topic. But after coming out of the exam hall, it's like a system crashing. All data lost. Re-format.

In the end, the degree name may sounds fancy, sounds like its an overseas degree, but it boils down to what you know.

Likewise, I've also known people who are knowledgeable about their area even though the institution might not have a good name, but mainly because they take the extra effort to learn more about it in their own time. They do complain to me endlessly about their lecturers though.

There's a reason why some particular institutions are popular. That's because the bare minimum you learn there is more than what you could have learned elsewhere. If you find that what you're learning is simple, basic stuff, beware. Something is wrong...

Remember the basic rule of thumb. Quality beats quantity anytime. The paper is useless if there isn't any knowledge backing it. That's reality.