COLLEGE DIPLOMA, JUST ANOTHER PIECE OF PAPER?

Every time I open the sleeve and look at my college diploma it takes me back to another time.

What time is that?

The mid-70’s? Nooooo.

Early 80’s? Noooo.

But I started freshman year in 1973.

I spoke with a man who said he went to college for fourteen years.

What?

I was about to tease him for being a moron for spending so much time, then he said, “Yes, for my bachelor’s, my master’s, and my PhD.”

Then I told him I was also in college for fourteen years.

He asked me about the subject of my PhD dissertation.

I explained that you don’t need to give a dissertation after fourteen years pursuing a bachelor’s degree.

He looked at me, I looked at him.

He probably saw a moron; I wanted to see his degrees.

Higher education is funny like that.

Show me those papers.

I don’t remember his dissertation topic, or if he said, but he did say he sold artificial turf installations to high schools and colleges.

I used my history degree for the history museum I worked in, collecting and cataloguing historical artifacts as the Museum Collection Manager, which was a nice title after starting out as a guard and rising up in the organization to clerk.

Meteoric, to say the least.

I suspect my guy’s degree wasn’t a PhD in artificial turf, but that doesn’t matter.

What matters is if you’re going to talk the talk, you’d better have some documentation that you walked the walk.

Or maybe just shut the hell up?

 

Why History Matter More Now

This is the Magna Carta.

No one you’ve ever known has ever touched it.

I got my hands on it during a condition report while it was on exhibit in Oregon.

The sense of history in my hands had a special tingle.

The conservator took as few shots as he could in the vault due to over-exposure and light degradation.

It’s old.

The stains are from a former conservation team. They went to lunch, then came back to discover someone has spilled a cup of tea on it.

Who? No one said. It would end their career.

I didn’t spill. I also didn’t wear my white gloves. Oops.

 

From Google AI:

The Magna Carta is housed in a high-tech, argon-filled case at the National Archives to protect it from degradation; the inert argon gas, combined with a sealed, airtight environment and precise humidity control, prevents oxidation and moisture damage, preserving the delicate parchment and ink for centuries by displacing oxygen and moisture, unlike regular air. 

 

Like a college diploma, the Magna Carta is also just another piece of paper, or vellum, calf skin.

And like that diploma, it means different things to different people.

What I think it means:

As a society accustomed to a particular way of life, the kings at the time ruled in a way to sustain it, which meant collecting money from any and everywhere, which upset the land owning nobility who collected money from people farming the land.

The king wanted more money, the nobility, and the landed gentry, felt the pinch, so they made a deal that has influenced nations far and wide, like America a few hundred years later.

 

What does the phrase Landed Gentry mean & who were they?

Landed in this sense refers to land ownership, usually in the form of hamlets or country estates. These very often provided a substantial income to the landowners, usually through tenant farms or lucrative rights to fishing, shooting or hunting.

The income from their land supported their gentrification, in that they didn’t need to toil in manual labour, enjoying passive wealth from their assets and estates, which gave rise to the term Landed Gentry.

 

The land owning folks wanted to keep more for themselves from the sweat of their laborers, the nobility wanted to keep more, and the king got less.

Somehow they signed off and it has stood the test of time.

 

Why The Magna Carta Matters More Now

From the U.S. District Court of Oregon Historical Society:

 

In July 1986, the Lincoln Cathedral’s copy of a 1215 Magna Carta (one of four remaining copies–one at Salisbury Cathedral and two at the British Library), came to Portland for the start of an extended visit in the United States.

Aside from a trip to the New York World’s Fair in 1939, it was the only other time the document had left the Lincoln Cathedral (which was established in 1072 by William the Conqueror).

 

The current American nobility and landed gentry have elevated their game to astronomical heights.

Everyone wants to be a spaceman, ride rockets, and dabble in government.

I don’t fault their effort when the Prime truck stops to make a delivery, but I do fault the access and influence they’ve had in national affairs.

Do I want a quack-talking dilettante dipping into personnel files for their own amusement?

Noooo.

Should an amateur addict be dispensing medical opinions from a huge platform?

Nooooo.

I like my appointed officials to look like college professors plucked away from the studies of public policy mistakes of the last one hundred years.

I want musty academics steeped in current technology and communications toeing the line for the people.

Bring me your wizened scholars fluent in facebook, YouTube, and AI.

Help them speak the common language of Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité (“Liberty, Equality, Fraternity”)

 

PS: Anything less than doing the right thing goes against the guys in the picture. They’ve sworn an oath.

 

PSS: The guys in the picture are the epitome of ass-kickers. They know the difference between right and wrong, and furtherng their careers.

Things like a college diploma, advanced degrees, the Magna Carta, and the U.S. Constitution help keep them on track.

We need them on track around here.

Capisce?