Do you agree with the view that educational qualifications are a very unreliable measure of a persons true abilities?

Intro: As society progresses, there is a decreasing emphasis on academic achievements This is because of higher education standards one often competes for a job with people on the same educational level as us, leaving non-academic attributes as the true litmus test of ability Breaking of stereotypes: No longer is an intelligent person, a smart person, or a wholly capable individual. Why? Because academics are only one aspect of an individual Everybodys a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its life believing that its stupid Albert Einstein. The same concept goes for depending largely on academics to ascertain one full potential. A very unreliable measure if used exclusively.

TS1: Educational qualifications fail to reveal intangible and often valuable attributes, if such can be measured in the first place. Education is only one aspect of an individuals abilities, seeking to quantify and qualify ones intelligence. They overlook how a person, albeit less academically inclined, may have excellent characteristics and attributes like social adaptability, a high emotional quotient, street-smart, resourceful, tenacious etc. E.g. Helps one excel in teambuilding for example, essential life-skill in corporate world ability to work in team determines leadership, effective communication, key to keeping a job. The assumption today is that good academics = capable person, this is false having intelligence and knowing how to best use it as leverage are two different ideas. E.g. Harvard graduates that leave with less-than-stellar grades do better each year in respective fields than those graduating with straight As.

Often had skills unsuited for academic study as opposed to practical, hands-on creative process Steve Jobs. The old adage It is not what you know but who you know also holds true networking opportunities are not delivered on a silver platter to excellent achievers if they are deficient in social skills/ cultivating positive relationships with clients/leaving good impression/confidence. Reducing someones capability to his academics is to make man onedimensional and superficial, ignoring all that makes us human computers can be academically smart too! TS2: Educational qualifications are thus even less adequate to measure ones competency when a job scope involved is independent of ones academic ability. Tangible abilities and talents may be more important to determine ones true ability, academic brilliance is only a subset of talent or ability E.g. Footballers David Beckham, Wayne Rooney all lack very high academic qualifications, yet they excel at their job, which is playing football. It is not that academics may be inadequate, it is almost redundant in such scenarios where one does not require a large degree of academic success to be successes in their own right. E.g Recording Artists Mariah Carey was discovered waiting tables, the kind of occupational success her qualifications then warranted. Yet, her singing prowess responsible for her illustrious career had nothing to do with those qualifications. There is no possible standard assessment for ones singing ability, it is subjective too. We call this a mismatching of skills and qualifications. Academic qualification had little influence on the persons competency, there is no correlation between the level of the former and that of economic or social success in many cases. It is more important then to find person with a matching skill rather than academic excellence of corresponding level.

TS3: Ability is in itself, a dynamic and not a static concept. However educational qualifications represent ones ability at that particular moment in time, ignoring how ability can be nurtured, grown, cultivated and honed. Hence qualifications risk being inaccurate judges of ones ability. One can lose or gain more of an ability, pick up new abilities. It is superficial to say that a certain piece of educational qualification represents a persons true ability in the time prior or following such an assessment. Many times people lose hope when one does poorly in an academic sense, even being condescending. E.g. Ex-convicts dismissed by employers and society alike, not educationally as qualified is the oft-heard refrain. Yet they often become trained with life-skills like cooking, sewing, management, hospitality, business, repair work, economically viable skills as they integrate into society. These mark a growth in ones abilities, not accurately reported or conveyed through grades. There is never a point that peoples abilities become static and grades/certs fail to reflect that reality paper qualifications only reinforce how one is defined by that period in life. Counter: TS1: Yet educational qualifications speak volumes about necessary intelligence and ones attitude toward approaching a task. Many jobs require theoretical and practical knowledge of the field and without academic qualifications, there is no way to determine a candidates suitability to fill in a certain portfolio. A Biomedical Engineers talent and passion for the sciences are revealed through his/her qualifications in that degree, for example.

Insofar as a job demands sound knowledge of the workings of a subject or specialty area, educational qualifications are a rather good reliable of ones abilities,

Yet they must be complemented by unaccountable and intangible traits such as resilience, perseverance and patience for example.

TS2: Questioning the notion of true abilities It is subjective and is thus seen by the subjective realities of people around them. If the person himself is not fully aware of his abilities, can we expect to know him better? Because saying we can see his true ability implies that this perception will become the be all and end all to ones abilities. Truth is, there is no reliable measure for abilities as it were.

Meaningless noise from talentless people, manufactured by calculating corporations for purely commercial gain. Is this a fair assessment of popular music today? Intro: Pop music referring to one genre, or a loose, ever changing set of genres?

Essay question assumes that pop music has become a collective of untalented individuals who make noise, under the guise of slick corporate and commercial packaging/marketing for the sole gain of profits.

By labeling pop music as such, there is already a flawed assumption that there are universally accepted forms of superior and inferior genres/songs, forgetting that songs and music remain at its core, an art form and hence inherently subjective.

Amidst todays celebrity cult culture, the superstars of the popular music scene are often used to sell anything to the masses. Justin Bieber markets everything from jeans to nail polish, targeted directly at his audience of pre-teen girls.

Many frustrated, feel that pop music has simply been an avenue for economic exploitation, daylight robbery too big to see, losing artistic integrity, quality control and uniqueness.

Yet, can we say that for all of pop musics evolution, it has retained no positive impact? No. In fact pop music has continued to function as an easily accessible platform for masses to music, and vice versa.

Unfair to treat pop music as an euphemism for the capitalist vehicle, as one big empty vessel making much noise.

Popular music today remains, and even more prominently, the pop cultural zeitgeist, remaining a common ground for the confluence of trends.

TS1: Popular music is the platform for the spread of social causes Done through music, in the music. Ever more important, given the digital age and ease of information spread via the new media Perfect medium non-violent , easily accessible, has widespread reach. Empowerment

E.g Glee, Pink, Christina Aguilera, Lady Gaga: message of love, acceptance, embracing insecurity, diversity. Beyonce an inspiration to bigger women to larger issues like Japan Earthquake Aid concerts, U2s Bono uses his music to promote humanitarian efforts and charity.

Amplified by cult status following of fans who are likely to propagate the same message, multiplying the reach ten-fold or thousand-fold.

Meaningful messages, from talented individuals with a heart such social causes may boost popularity and thus sales, but ultimately, one can only maintain a veneer of artifice temporarily. Hard to assert that they are all cold calculated moves. Social causes demand devotion of huge time and energy, displayed by the leaders of pop music today.

Can inspire generations to come e.g. Beatles and their antiestablishment rhetoric.

Often many tread the fine line of controversy, and occasionally cross it certainly not at the request of record companies who fear a slip in popularity.

TS2: To deem pop music as meaningless and existing solely for economic gain is a devastating subversion of musical passion, desecrating an art form and corrupts the representation of artistic endeavor. Just because pop music is popular, it does not mean that it is lacking in talent. Many talented, unique artists have a passion for their craft and try their best to balance the interests of record companies while maintaining their artistic integrity and honoring the creative process Green Day accused of selling out continued to maintain many punk elements with mainstream tracks. E.g. Spirit of collaboration Kayne West and Jay-Z, Tony Benett and Amy Winehouse. Dedicated to introducing new musical insights, creative insights

Grammys are a celebration of artistic endeavor. Respect for their work is evident in lyrics pop music characterized by easily identifiable subject matter and themes that many associate with struggle between artist and label exemplifies their passion and artistic integrity.

Michael Jackson not only had a social cause to push, he was extremely devoted to perfecting his craft and pioneering revolutionary music video concepts that have become the benchmark till today Thriller MV the first short movie cum music video ever produced, with back-up dancers.

TS3: More than any branch of pop culture, pop music represents a constantly changing set of attitudes that hold significance in the lives of listeners. Pop music has long been thought of as the thread of social fabric, Representing any certain set of attitudes and identities for listeners to try on in their formative years for example. Pop musics value lies in how it provides the individual in society with a sense of social security that one belongs to the masses, group, is included, while at the same time leaving enough room for individuality popular music today is far from meaningless a glance through someones playlist and you have an impression of them. The above only rises from a diverse pool of talent in the industry making music if all stars were manufactured, there would be a dearth of teenage individuality arising from the music industry. Pop retains highest popularity with over 75% of American youths expressing interest in following (SoundScan, 2007) Despite its commerciality, labels and record companies are very much in tune with the tastes of the listener, fully aware of the need for dynamic

and robust and individualistic individuals to be in the industry for the listeners to look up to. Resort to funding from product placement and sponsors, so as to give more artistic freedom. TS4: ?

Counter: TS1: Yet one cannot deny that the music industry is after all an industry that has to make profits one way or another Hence the new marketing paradigm hinging on new media. Calculatedly commercial, always watched by record companies to ensure that they remain economically viable Constant pressure from their labels E.g. Rihanna left Jay-Zs label after a fallout over creative direction and career in 2011 Need to adhere to a certain image and promote it online The songs are sometimes just a distraction for the money. Too non-mainstream and it will not make money either. However, it does not matter in the end what the motive of record companies are the benefits as mentioned above do not change, peoples lives are still touched, improved along the way. Conclusion: At the end of the day, pop music is a mere medium, not the message. The message is what we make of it that is, whatever we want it to be and thats the beauty of pop music. Amongst strategically placed products in a music video and the record labels frowning executive, it would be good to note that popular music will be here to stay like it or not. It may well consist of meaningless lyrics,

bland manufactured wannabes and every one of those other characteristics, but it sure is not the sum or manifestation of its parts.