"Getting a Degree…..Getting an Education"

Tom Buchanan, President

Arts and Sciences Honors Convocation

October 7, 2005

A farmer at death’s door wanted to impart to his sons a secret of great importance. He called them around him and said, "My sons, I am about to die, and I want you to know that there is a hidden treasure in my vineyard. Dig and you will find it." As soon as their father had passed away, the sons took spade and fork and turned up the soil of the vineyard—over and over again. They searched and searched for the treasure they thought was buried there. They found nothing. But at harvest time, the grapevines, after such thorough cultivation, produced a crop like never before.

"The Farmer and His Sons" is one of Aesop’s many fables. Written some 2,600 years ago, it is a striking allegory for education. In a way, the father was manipulating his sons. His wisdom told him that people often want the shortest path to success. His obvious lesson to his sons was that real treasures come as a result of tenacity, hard work, and effort.

Material wealth might come from tenacity, hard work, and effort; depth of character and meaningful living always, always come from their exercise. The farmer’s sons thought they understood his death-bed message. But they only truly understood it when they brought in their next harvest. The passage of time was essential for the sons to learn. And the time you spend here at the University of Wyoming is essential to your learning. For some of you it will be four years….for others maybe more……look at me…..I’ve never left. Education takes time, it never ends, it is a treasure that cannot be taken from us. It shapes our character and strengthens our minds. It makes us independent, and it is ours to keep forever.

The farmer’s sons thought they were looking for a degree….what they got was an education. There is more than one lesson in the fable: 1) As I mentioned, hard work is important. 2) It is not for us to know beforehand when or how a treasure will show up. 3) Doing the right thing usually pays unexpected dividends. And 4) seeking the superficial leads us astray.

Learning is "a long and winding road." It is not always goal directed and purposeful. We often stumble accidentally into our most vivid and meaningful learning experiences. Learning is by no means continuous and by no means universal. Sometimes we pursue it without knowing. Pasteur was right when he said that chance favors the prepared mind. That is precisely what you are doing, here at UW. You are preparing—and we are helping—as you dig in the vineyard that is the University of Wyoming. Just as the two sons cultivated their field, you are cultivating your intellect. Dig hard and long. The treasures you discover will continue to unfold through out your life in ways you’ve not yet imagined.

The world knows this is true. Current World Bank estimates indicate that 1% of our global output, some $300 billion dollars a year, is spent by 80 million students worldwide on higher education. Everyone knows how important education is. As UW students, you have the advantage of being able to engage your professors, world renowned scholars in their own right, in wide-ranging discussions in your classes. I hope all of you will take advantage of the research opportunities and the one-on-one independent studies that are available to you with UW faculty members.

Today we’ve learned first-hand how fruitful these endeavors are—from Danielle, Erin, and Travis. Undergraduate students working independently with great faculty have formed a proud tradition at UW…it’s more than a passing fad. The article in the last Arts and Sciences Report announcing this Keith and Thyra Thomson Honors Convocation was entitled, "Encouraging Academic Excellence." This Convocation does indeed play an important role in meeting the College’s—and the University’s—mission of encouraging academic excellence…

But let’s not kid ourselves, not everyone cares about academic excellence. For many folks, educational choices are made on the basis of cost, but excellence…that’s a far more abstract concept that is more difficult to evaluate. Not all education is created equal. How do we tell the good from the bad or from the mediocre?

I want to talk about discrimination. For at least a generation, the word discrimination, despite being fourteen letters long, has been a four letter word. Its association with prejudice or thwarting the rights and dreams of those who are different from us has burdened the word with a solidly negative context.

But not all discrimination is bad. The power to discriminate, the ability to use our intellect for greater understanding, to separate the imaginary from the real, the good from the bad, cannot be underestimated. It’s a tricky thing, being discriminating at a public university. Common wisdom says elitism has no place at a public land-grant institution. But we, as faculty, have an obligation to search for excellence, we have a responsibility to discriminate between great and mediocre. It’s not always easy.

Wyoming’s western heritage is noted for its lack of pretension and formality. We in Wyoming have a penchant for egalitarian politics and institutions. We believe in "live and let live," and we are gun shy about discrimination, even the good kind. But this laudable attribute has its limits. At a time when the state coffers are full, and everyone is feeling good, Wyoming’s challenge is to stay awake on a full stomach. An unwillingness or reluctance to discriminate can spawn mediocrity.

I am concerned today by the State of Wyoming’s reluctance to discriminate between good education and bad. In a rural place like Wyoming, long-distance learning is a fact of life. So are some forms of high quality on-line learning. In fact, we do on-line and distance education very well at UW, and we’ve been doing it for a very long time.

But we must not make the leap that getting a degree from any on-line university that hangs up a shingle is the same as getting an education. They are not the same. I encourage you to recall Mark Twain’s famous words about discrimination: "The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug." Apply that concept here.

A world of difference exists between fully accredited public and private institutions of higher education and the on-line charlatans who trade you money for a worthless sheepskin.

Education is about learning to argue and reason. It’s about cultivating intellectual and ethical judgment, abstract thinking, and quantitative reasoning. It’s about developing skilled communicators who are sophisticated about diversity and experienced with other cultures. And it is not just a "private good"—something you do for your own individual development—education is also a public good, with a role in developing good citizens, community leaders, and thoughtful people. Education is learning to argue and reason, and this is best done within a community of scholars.

As a state, and as a nation, we are confused about the difference between getting a degree and getting an education. Let me give you a real life example….if the Internet qualifies as "real life." An e-mail popped up on my screen last week asking me: "Do you want a University Degree without studying? An income that starts off high? The opportunity just to get in the door? We can help. We have a LEGAL offshore university that issues valid degrees in any subject for a small fee."

A testimonial from Jared T. of Miami Florida followed: "I had no experience at all in marketing. I applied as a marketing consultant for a company. My university degree and reference letter (issued with degree) got me the job in 1 week! My income is now $90,000 a year. They still have no idea about my not going to a university, but they love me at work for my creativity. You guys rock!"

According to the ad-e-mail, all you had to do was "call today." The registrar’s office phone number was listed. No name for the "university" (and I use that term loosely) was included in the message. For-profit, fly-by-night diploma mills are springing up everywhere. No place more so than Wyoming where our lack of licensing standards has earned us a well deserved and less-than-flattering reputation.

The fact that Wyoming has the least stringent higher education licensing requirements in the United States is embarrassing. I applaud those in the Legislature who would require universities to actually be universities before they can advertise and establish themselves in Wyoming.

We certainly know how to organize and deliver higher education. U.S. higher education is the envy of the world. Why else would diploma mills exist to create the illusion that enrollees are actually receiving degrees from U.S. universities? Congratulations to us for creating, and developing, and sustaining the University of Wyoming. Shame on us for allowing one-room universities with no faculty and no curriculum to operate with impunity in the State of Wyoming.

There will always be people who want the credentials with a minimum of effort, and there will always be those who will provide them with a pretty parchment with seals and ribbons in exchange for money. They want the box of treasure in the vineyard…but they don’t want to do any of the digging.

Don’t be fooled into thinking that every institution that calls itself a university or a college is in fact delivering an education. There is a world of difference between getting a diploma and getting an education. On-line diploma mills have lost sight that a degree is but a symbol of effort. Effort means sweat, learning from failure, pushing your limits, and many late nights with too much coffee. We don’t honor a piece of parchment, we honor the work that went into it.

At UW we know that we are not a business. As David Kirp observed in his book "Shakespeare, Einstein, and the Bottom Line," the "market" does not honor the values of the truest and best universities. We believe in a community of scholars and not a confederacy of self-seekers; in the idea of openness and not ownership; in the professor as a pursuer of truth and not an entrepreneur; in the student as an acolyte whose preferences are to be formed, not a consumer who preferences are to be satisfied."

I want to tell you that your UW degree will be worth its weight in gold…er – I mean brown and gold. Your Arts and Sciences faculty are among the best in the world. They are not content with the time-honored process of stuffing students like sausages or training them like seals. Rather, they understand that their obligation is to instill in each of you the attitudes toward personal growth, and learning, and creativity that will shape society’s future.

In closing, if all you want is a degree, save yourself some time….buy it on the Internet. But if you want an education, then embrace the work that is required to develop a fertile future. And I can tell you from personal experience that if you want a great education, there is no place better than the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Wyoming.

It’s always exciting to be in front of so many of UW’s best students—with all of your friends, families, and significant others. We are proud of your achievement, and you should be too. And you can be proud of your UW education. We know it’s hard work, but it is well worth it.

Thank you and enjoy this A&S celebration and all of UW’s family weekend.