BOOM!!! I guess the question is though - did he do a good job? It appears so, and he faked his degrees 20 years ago.....so....was he naughty, or could not stop perpetuating a lie??? Fantastic questions. Cheers, George
"The report found that during his career, Mr Oakley falsely claimed he had a Bachelor of Science and Education Diploma from the University of Newcastle, along with a Master of Business Administration from the University of NSW and Doctor of Philosophy from the University of New England." http://dailytelegraph.news.com.au/story.jsp?sectionid=1260&storyid=583108 "But less than a year after signing a $1.2 million contract to become general manager of Randwick City Council, he could face up to 10 years in jail under recommendations made yesterday by the corruption watchdog. [...] The jobs included a $135,000-a-year job as director-general of the NSW Department of Business and Regional Development and CEO of the Newcastle Ports Corporation, which paid up to $250,000." (The Australian dollar is worth 73 cents US.) http://dailytelegraph.news.com.au/story.jsp?sectionid=1260&storyid=583108
Sorry, that second link should have been: http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/12/03/1070351652654.html "By the time the truth caught up with him, Mr Oakley was a conjoint professor at the University of Newcastle's Graduate School of Business and was chair of the university foundation board. [...] the vice-chancellor of the University of Newcastle, Roger Holmes, [... said,] "He was actually doing a very good job and was a very active member of the board, doing quite a deal in raising the university's profile," http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,8056066%255E2702,00.html
As long as someone does a good job, it's OK for them to lie about their credentials? Does this apply across the board? Is a surgeon with a fake degree just being "naughty" when he performs surgery?
OK, Jeff, you raise some good questions. > As long as someone does a good job, it's OK for them to lie > about their credentials? No, we can't condone fraud. But, if credentials don't correlate with ability, maybe we as a society need to rethink the credential requirements? Maybe the credentials are just our own version of a caste system? As for the individual, if he had a family to support, and he knew that revealing a 20-year-old lie would cost him his job (which he was doing well), doesn't that go to extenuation at least? > Does this apply across the board? I'd hazard that having an MD correlates better with actual medical knowledge, than having a BA correlates with the necessary skills at jobs that require a BA. Sliding scale, maybe? > Is a surgeon with a fake degree just being "naughty" when > he performs surgery? Was Ferdinand Waldo Demara being "naughty" when he performed surgery that saved the lives of people who would otherwise have died (there was no genuine doctor anywhere near the ship where he was ship's surgeon)? He was extremely naughty to take the job of ship's surgeon; but in going ahead with the surgery rather than letting them die, he was acting ethically.
