Name your top three pet peeves.

There are many positives and many negatives that one experiences in traversing life’s pathway.

1 Promotion not based on merit.

In 1978, on the day that Prince Charles and Princess Diana were married in London, we had a very prominent politician come to our house at Angurugu on Groote Eylandt. We knew him quite well.

He had just been on a visit to the United States of America. He came back both being bemused and concerned by the fact that in America, people were being promoted into high-level positions and prominent occupations based on race, ethnicity specifics, gender, and so on. That night, he expressed the hope that Australia would never be a place where people were promoted or recognised for positional occupations other than the merit principle of selection.

I pondered deeply upon what he said and to this day, believe that what he said was right. People have to be worthy of the positions they occupy. Recognition based on merit is an accurate indicator of readiness or otherwise.

Fast forward to 2023 and so many positions these days are being filled by people because of race, ethnicity, belief specifics, and so on. The Merit Principal no longer applies. In many instances people selected for positions are not expected to perform at a superior level, meaning that standards of expectation are varied and not constant.

2 The awarding of honorary doctorates.

I have worked at the Charles Darwin University as a lecturer and in other capacities. I have also completed several tertiary degrees to postgraduate and masters level. I contemplated doctoral studies and stepped away because I wanted to devote myself fully to my school occupation as a principal. Personal study would have gotten in the way of my performanceAnd probably diluted my school leadership.

I am aware and no many students who have worked hard, with dedication and with personal sacrifice to earn their doctors in various disciplines. They have all left the university owing substantial higher education contribution debt HECS). This can take many years to pay off but they do have a qualification of merit and calibre.

What irks me is the fact that universities engaging in doctoral level courses, then turn around and confer Honorary Doctrines on all sorts of people for all sorts of things. And to add insult to injury, Honorary Doctorate holders often asked to speak at graduation ceremonies – making it look like that they have and a genuine qualification when indeed it is no more than hollow and pyrrhic.

To me, doctorates so conferred diminish the status of doctoral qualifications that have been earned through genuine study and long-term commitment. I cannot but feel that many of these people who have quality genuine doctorates must feel somewhat hollowed out, when they observe the triviality of an Honorary Doctorate conferee deemed to be a very important person, giving the valedictory address at graduations. That in my opinion belittles those who have actually earned their degrees.

If I was to ever be offered an honorary doctorate and that is not likely, I would decline on the grounds I’ve outlined. I would not accept something that belittles the work of genuine students.

3 The abolition of “fail”.

The third thing I find to be absolutely abhorrent is the notion of the word “fail” no longer being a part of a evaluative vernacular. As a student I tried very hard to avoid failing any area of study and development. As an educator I also worked hard with those in my schools, both students and teachers, to ensure that they were successful and did not have to countenance failure in their studies or work.

However, to take away the notion of failing reduces everybody to some sort of a singular level of degree of success. Not everybody does succeed and they should not be conferred that title unless it has been genuinely earned.

With the passing of time, to suggest somebody might fail has become a “no, no“. That takes the onus of accountability away from people.

After retiring, I spent a number of years working at our university in various capacities as a lecturer, tutor and marker. There were occasions within these capacities when it was necessary to fail students because quite simply they were not up to speed. A great deal of their minimal performance had to do with effort put in to succeeding.

What really upset me when I did fail students, was being overridden by those in charge of the education faculty (I was working with trainee teachers), who seemingly had to ensure that students did not fail..

It is no wonder that way we are graduating a lot of mediocrity into various of the key professions – and it is all thanks to this attitude of everybody succeeding.