BREAKING NEWS: Rumsfield Stepping Down-----Local Breaking----Experienced Candidate eliminated because of missing BA

It is an odd mix of stories coming at the same time. Secretary of Defense Rumsfield, the man who had all the credentials and was great at fighting the high tech war on paper and ignoring the down to earth wisdom of the generals, was removed today as Secretary of Defense.

Evansville city officials in tandem, removed an experienced candidate for city administrator on the basis that this person, while very experienced, did not have a college degree. Click on the post in the Janesville Gazette by Gina Duwe.

Usually in the search requirement specs, there is the phrase "or equivalent" placed for circumstances such as this to allow the search committee some discretion.

Recently I have been reading the book, "DeSchooling" by Ivan Illich. He points out that we have become a society that has become obsessed with credentialed sequence and NOT learning. We have become confused at what competence really is.

It is my experience that where search committees look for these type of exclusions, they are really trying to eliminate experience and specifically older workers. Thus, this is really not a decison regarding competence at all.

Personnel decisons are always a choice. It is always a judgement call. That is fine. I jush wish this person had made it to the final process and the council, not the consulting firm, had made the cut. After all, they are the elected officials running the city.

You make the call.