Is it at all possible to achieve employment based not on the possession of academic degrees, but rather on the possession of the knowledge and skill those degrees represent? It should be, of course, but it does not seem to be. The reason is obviously that employers are (quite sensibly) unwilling to risk 'trial employees' and would rather see proof that someone else has previously established the competence of the potential employee. However, should there not be a method of obtaining a degree by demonstrating competence, rather than sitting through (and paying for) years of being told what one already knows? I would gladly spend every waking moment of one month on a gruelling test of all required knowledge and skill confirming my competence, rather than a few hours a day for several years sitting on a wooden chair learning nothing to confirm exactly the same data.
In fact, companies should design and issue these tests themselves. In this way, employers get exactly what they need and intellectuals need not waste their time with methods of education less effective than their own epistemophilia.
I breach this subject now because Delanie and I are seeking our own residence in order to spare ourselves the irritating and hindering idiosyncracies of our present company, and if we rely on her income alone while I spend all of my time writing and researching, our efforts are bound to be inordinately delayed and/or bear less than helpful results.
My writings will sell when complete, I am confident of that, but it has become excessively apparent that the interim will continue to be intolerable and harmful without our privacy.
