Another Concordia doctoral grad "busted!"

You might be paying for some part of it, but ultimately, the authority comes from the State, and some portion of the funding comes from the State, and thus, some portion of your degree should be up for grabs if you annoy someone. It's only fair.

That being the case, I propose that the portion that the State paid for is the "D." in the Ph.D., the "B." in the Bachelor's, and the "M." in the Masters. Those postnominals thus should be fair game, should you ever make a mistake of judgment. And your middle name. Should you not have a middle name (some don't), every second letter of your family name.

Of course, this could all be resolved by simply issuing 90 lashes on national television to those who aren't perfect enough to avoid making mistakes in life, and after the 90 lashes, calling it a draw, since justice would have been dealt out.

 

Lying politicians?

Originally posted by QuinnTylerJackson
"Degrees should only be taken away when people do things that annoy me. For instance, people who show bad judgment by voting in politicians who lie, should have their degrees rescinded.

But only in such extreme cases."

I hope that this is not an arbitrary indictment of the current party in power because if your proposal were to be enacted NONE of us would have any degrees left.

All of us would have them taken away from us.

 

Re: Lying politicians?

In order to allow Cesar that which is Cesar's, I don't vote. So I'm safe. Of course this means that I cannot complain about a specific government, but it does allow me the freedom to complain about them all, equally.

Actually, that's not completely true. As a non-voter, and for the specific reasons I have mentioned (Cesar, you know), I am not really supposed to complain about Cesar. In fact, as a knight, it is my sworn duty and oath to uphold the Crown. (Since I'm a Canadian, I have a Queen as my symbolic head of state.)

So, as I part this discussion --

Ladies and Gentleman -- the Queen! God save her!

 

I agree

With whatever it is that you wrote.

 

Re: Re: Lying politicians?

If you don't mind my asking, which Order?

 

Order of Burghers and Fryers (Hold the Mayor)

I don't mind being asked, but my official reply must be "Certain details of my life are not made available on the Internet. Thank you for your understanding."

An unfortunate consequence of Internet congress, and one I had to learn about the hard way.

 

Caesar, Cesar, Seize Her!

Cesar Romero?

BTW, Quinn, you really must do something about the current likeness of your Queen on Canadian coins. It is ugly and doesn't even look like her.

 

Re: Caesar, Cesar, Seize Her!

Ladies and Gentleman -- the Queen:

http://graphics.boston.com/bonzai-fba/AFP_Photo/2005/02/01/1107303601_0041.jpg

Ladies and Gentleman -- a Canadian Coin:

http://www.goldcoins.org/images/Gold-MapleLeaf-Queen.jpg

God save them both!

 

Re: Re: Caesar, Cesar, Seize Her!

Which one in this picture is the queen?

 

Darn it all, if we're going to get into revoking existing legitimately earned degrees for various reasons, then those who get fake degrees, evade taxes, drive while intoxicated, or take up careers that involve dishinesty (wrestlers, politicians, and actors) ought to be forbidden to earn legitimate degrees in the first place, as well as denying them the right to acquire homes, jobs, cars, wedding bands, salvation, the right to vote, family lives, and pets in the future, as well as sentencing them to 40 years in the salt mines.

 

Now you're getting into the spirit!

And we can do it posthumously as well. Didn't Oxford's Sir Cyril Burt likely fudge his results? Heck, and prehumously -- something akin to Minority Report and Gattaca -- we can deny all those things at the time of conception to people who might do those things, according to our better judgment. And in a few years, if they even consider those things.

I see the future! Ubiquitous moral perfection is only fair, after all.

 

Oh, come on... Are you telling me that pro wresling is not real? Pro wrestlers are the most honest athletes in the world. They take steroids, fix the fight, stage the show, and unlike other sports they are honest enough to let us know that it is exactly what they are doing.

 

Re: Take away my degrees??????????

Actually, it was just a throw-away line... something so far-fetched and outrageous that one never even has to worry about defending it, much less watching it ever happen. You know... sorta' like when someone on the far Left, like me, is watching the Republican National Convention and, after taking a swig of my beer, utters to whomever's in the room, "Man, these guys are idiots! Too bad we can't just [insert desired calamitous outcome here]."

Or sorta' like when I read your post, here, and I mumbled to myself, "Oy, Lajazz947, again. Can't live with him; can't kill him." Stuff like that. (Oh, c'mon... I'm just kidding!)

But seriously... far more interesting than that, I think, is the amazing, unexpected and far more entertaining debate it has sparked here. There's no question that that has made it all worth it.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna' go get another beer.

 

Re: Re: Take away my degrees??????????

As Gregg probably realizes fully, the technique employed in my take away their salvation, too approach was a device known to J. Swift and employed with great efficacity in his "Modest Proposal" -- to which I even threw in a nod in the starter along those lines.

That said, and getting more serious (and less hyperbolic) on the subtopic of rescinding of degrees....

It is my view that a "degree" is the university's "deliverable" on completion of study and other requirements -- and that "deliverable" is the result of a contract, which has "terms". In the case of some institutions, those "terms" include the university's right to revoke the degree. Iff a scholar went into that contract knowing that the degree might one day be rescinded for some particular conduct -- then the contract is likely not being violated. (Of course, I'm not a lawyer, and wouldn't play one on television....) It would be interesting to know whether or not a university could do such a thing under this angle if the term was not in the contract at the time of conferral.

However .... that said, even if such were to be upheld under common law of contract (it would require a test case or two to really gel) ... there are other things that might come into play, such as the "restriction of trade" that might occur of Joe Scholar were to lose all his degrees from QRST University as a result of some real or imagined infraction that resulted in such a provision being exercised. That is to say, if someone were qualified by virtue of an M.S. to do something, and then had his or her M.S. revoked due to some real or imagined transgression that was not also a reason to oust them from practice of that profession, thus removing the qualification, that person may no longer be permitted to perform his or her trade. And that would put incredible ex post facto power in the hands of universities, beyond the spirit and intent of the contract.

In such situations, the rescind provision in the contract might be blue penned.

Of course, I'm just making this all up as I go along, but it withstands the "two coffees in me test". Three coffees, however, and it may fly south.

 

If degrees are to be rescinded for bad behavior not connected with the degree--an absurd notion in my opinion--then the powers-that-be should also deny entry to those with bad behavior in their pasts. And I don't see THAT ever happening, either.

Mental modeling exercises like this can be fun, but what's the point here? Or, to pile on, I can think of a Harvard MBA that should be at the top of the rescinding list....

 

Well, one reason it's not likely to happen for past bad behavior is that new tuitions can't be extracted from such cases, whereas for bad behavior after the fact would not result in a refund.

(Put another way: Hindsight is 20/20, whereas income is 9 tenths of the law.)

Or maybe I'm just becoming cynical.

 

Gentlemen, a song!

Hello mudder, hello fadder,
here we are in degree dada,
it's surreal, we all squeal,
since coz he's a schmuck
we've made his degree nada.

 

Re: Gentlemen, a song!

Apologies to Allan Sherman, I assume.

 

Not to mention Poncielli.

 

And Camp Granada.