The writer discusses the problems surrounding the dichotomy of real/imaginary certificates, by examining the assumptions in the prevailing concepts about certification, learning, and competence. He also draws attention to the arbitrariness of work systems, and to the fact that the certification may be a means of exclusion and not just a qualification!
Start by answering the potential question in your mind: No, I do not hold a fake certificate and I do not intend to obtain one. The truth is that until recently, I considered it in its various forms to be a form of fraud and swindling, and an impersonation of what many people struggle to achieve legitimately. I also considered it a sign of laziness and neglect of what an individual must go through in order to reach the highest levels. The certification has always represented a means of credibility for me. It is the dividing line between the learned and the ignorant, between the understanding and the naive, and between those who have determination and those who lack it.
I say “until recently” because my outlook has changed radically. I no longer reduce the conflict between the dualities of knowledge and ignorance, activity and laziness, or the sort. I also no longer consider it a means of deception as much as it is a sometimes inevitable solution to confronting an arbitrary regime. In a quota system that claims to differentiate on the basis of qualifications and competence, while hiding behind it the agenda of class and racial segregation of all kinds, the fake certificate seems a logical way to circumvent that system and enter the fray of conflict within it. But I’m getting ahead of myself with this. Because I am aware of the indignation and denunciation that this statement might entail, or what might result from it, I am obligated to take a step back and clarify some of the main problems.
One problem relates to the definition of a fake certificate itself. In this article, I will use the term fake certificate to refer to any certificate obtained by an individual through an educational institution that is not internationally accredited and without meeting the requirements to complete that certificate. In other words, it is an empty certificate or document that lacks the methodological and cognitive skills that the bearer of the title of certificate is supposed to actually bear. Since it is possible to obtain a fake certificate for a sum of money without going through the rigors of graduation projects, research, or the like, it is not surprising that it is stigmatized by deception, fraud, and inaction.
But the fake certificate does not stand alone. It is, of course, matched by a real certificate, a certificate granted by an accredited educational institution in exchange for the completion of certain requirements. In contrast to the twisted ways in which an individual obtains a fake certificate, the individual spends his nights and days in order to obtain the real degree and perhaps achieve a dream of his. The certificate is not only authentic in that it is accredited, but in that it enables the individual to understand one corner of the world more, in that it subjects the individual to consistent methodological and scientific foundations, and in that it qualifies its holder to enter the labor market, develop himself, and participate by using his creativity as well.
While I am not saying that the presence of all these characteristics is necessary for those who acquired real certificates, it is difficult to claim that such perceptions of the certificate and its holder are uncommon. Perceptions reach such a point that the comparison between learning and civilization, or between certification and competence, is self-evident. The existence of one party necessitates the existence of the other. No doubt you have ever heard things like, “He is educated and does this and that!” in response to behavior that the person saying frowns upon, or “An engineer and you don’t know this thing!” in denouncing the ignorance of an engineering degree holder about something.
I start from these and similar axioms to question their legitimacy and the legitimacy of what is built on them. By examining the assumptions contained in the prevailing concepts about the academic certificate in general, it is possible to shed light on the concept of the certificate itself, in addition to the relationships drawn between it and other concepts such as learning, competence, and others. This approach is based on the premise that subjecting axioms to accountability is sufficient to uncover the relativity of social illusions hidden behind their constants. In other words, asking about the nature of these axioms and the relationships between them would reveal the historicity of their foundations, that is, the connection of frameworks of meanings with fundamentally changing social structures. As a result of this reformulation process, the questions will not start from the boundaries of the relationships between concepts as much as they will start from the concepts themselves and the legitimacy of the relationships drawn between them.
What does all this mean for the topic of the article? Firstly, this means that the question will start with the meaning of the certificate or what it represents. Of course, it is not possible to summarize all aspects of the topic in a few lines, but it can at least provide a simple overview of the assumptions from which the article starts.
As I mentioned above, a certificate is a document that is given by an accredited educational institution to prove that the holder has passed certain requirements. The main difference between real and fake certificates lies in the accreditation of the institution that grants the certificate, which necessarily means that the requirements for completing the certificate are compatible with standards independent of the institution itself. Where is the problem then? In needing a certificate.
The certificate has become an essential pillar of the labor market to the point that it is now synonymous with a job in one way or another. I’m getting a degree in order to get a job, and since I have a degree, I’m supposed to get a job. It is not difficult to realize that this idea is also linked to the idea of rehabilitation. A certificate holder in a field is “qualified” to work in it. This also means that the certificate holder possesses competence in his field. Without this alleged competence, he would not have been able to complete the requirements.
It is natural that amidst these perceptions, the conflict between those holding real and fictitious certificates appears to be a conflict over whether qualifications and competence exist or not. Holders of a real degree are desperate – with a logical justification, of course – to expose the falsity of the qualifications of those who hold jobs for which they are entitled, as they possess the competence and qualifications that holders of a fake degree lack. But it’s actually more complicated than that. It is true that a certificate has many benefits, but does it actually represent everything it is said to represent? Is it possible to compare it with efficiency without any other considerations?
I mentioned that a real certificate legitimizes the holder’s passing of certain requirements, but it does not give us any actual impression of how he passed them. A certificate alone does not provide any suggestion as to whether an individual is qualified or competent in what he or she has passed. This means that resorting to the GPA to remove some confusion is inevitable, especially since a high GPA for the majority is synonymous with genius, excellence, and competence. But this actually makes us fall into another dilemma: Is the high GPA the result of the individual’s excellence in the subjects of his specialization or from his ability to balance it with “easy” subjects? In addition, how do we know whether the individual obtained those grades himself or whether he resorted to means that made it easier for him to obtain high grades?
Such dilemmas cannot, of course, be eliminated from the concept of a certificate. Since it represents the holder’s passing of certain requirements, it is logical that the question of how to pass those requirements is a legitimate question. It is impossible to address such a question without addressing other issues such as the relationship between excellence and intelligence or competence and obtaining high grades, for example, as each of them requires special research regarding the assumptions contained in it.
Above all, assuming that we reach an initial agreement on these concepts, the question of qualification takes us back to our starting point. A certificate does not have to be a qualification for the responsibilities of a job. In other words, a certification may be merely part of a qualification process that involves other factors, such as experience, familiarity with other languages, and the ability to use certain devices or software.
These problems constitute only a small part of the role of certificates in our time. Despite their presence, these problems are marginalized in order to focus on the positive roles of certificates. In this context, certification becomes a means of climbing the social and professional ladders, a means of improving the quality of life at the individual level, and a means of understanding the world more.
But this positive role does not exist alone. A certificate also has a negative role; It is a necessary reminder to engage in some fields of the labor market, meaning that these fields are close to those who do not hold a certificate. This means that certification is not only a qualification, but also a means of exclusion, a way of keeping a certain group out of competition for the limited resources available. This does not mean a distinction between those holding a bachelor’s, master’s, or any other degree as much as it means a distinction between those who had the opportunity to attend an educational institution and those who did not, between those who had the conditions to attend a university and those who did not.
Amidst all these entanglements, a fake certificate seems to be an easy solution to confront the regime, and a shortcut to entering the conflict without worrying about all the requirements that prepare for entering it. Rather, it is an ideal means of overcoming the obstacles that the regime places in order to progress into it. The certificate also seems to be a way to undermine a system that is desperate to close doors to the less fortunate, as it cannot be overlooked that individuals gain from the accumulation of happy coincidences with which they entered life.
The conflict can of course be portrayed as a conflict between individuals who worked hard and struggled to obtain a certificate and lazy individuals, that is, as a conflict between those who took it upon themselves to obtain higher degrees and those who decided to take shortcuts. These two images have been established by the international media for certain ideological purposes, such as making class differences “natural,” so to speak. But the truth is different from these naive simplifications. Each of us approaches life in circumstances that we did not choose, and in the face of challenges that were not necessarily of our own making. Rather, we all begin the first school day possessing our own cultural capital, a capital that includes our linguistic knowledge, our familiarity with the principles of the academic subjects, and our ability to follow a specific system and express ourselves within it. All of these factors are affected by the family in which we grow up, the opportunities that family had before we came, and so on. It is naive to assume that we enter the years of school as equals, and it is naive to assume that our academic performance depends on our intelligence or our effort, regardless of the economic/social circumstances in which each of us lives. It is unfair to assume that everyone had the same advantages that we did growing up.
All of this does not mean that fake certificates are without their dangers, of course. It is foolish to compare a fake certificate in a field that deals directly with people’s lives with a certificate in a field that has no close or distant connection to it. Having a fake degree in English literature is not equivalent to the risk of having a fake pharmacy degree, for example. It is also foolish to assume that every certificate holder is not qualified or that the holder of a fake certificate is necessarily qualified. As the title of the article suggests, it is also foolish to burden a certificate (whether certified or fake) with more than it can handle. Above all, it is necessary not to fall into generalizations that give rise to the specificity of each case and the uniqueness of the circumstances. Promoting the regime’s propaganda is a victory not only for its purposes, but also for its structure of meanings.
In fact, the main motivation behind me writing this article is what I saw on Twitter specifically in terms of campaigns aimed at attacking those who added fake certificates to their CVs under the pretext that they are incompetent and unqualified for the jobs they hold. While this accusation seemed true in many cases, it was wrong in many other cases. What determines the competence or qualification of an individual in his job is his ability to perform the tasks assigned to him, his ability to accomplish what is expected of him in his position. While the certificate contributes to preparing one for these tasks, competence and proficiency cannot be reduced to its existence alone, and it is necessary to go beyond the duality of real/imaginary certificates to better understand the conflict and reality.
