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Credentialism vs. Substance
A speech delivered by Dean Patrick Harker at the 2004
MBA Convocation describes the foundation of a great business
education: service, trust, morality—and a lot of hard work.
IT'S A PLEASURE to get together with you again.
A lot has happened since we last spoke on the first day of
pre-term. Math camp is behind you, as is the Leadership
Retreat. You've been matched up with your learning teams,
and you're a full two days into your "real" classes. More
importantly, you're two days closer to graduation!
You've probably also noticed it's a little more crowded on
campus. That's because you've been joined by your second-year
MBA colleagues and our Wharton undergraduates—bringing
our daily census in Huntsman Hall up to nearly 5,000 students.
An additional 20,000 students from Penn's 10 other undergraduate,
graduate and professional schools have also arrived. I hope
you're getting a sense of what a large and vibrant intellectual
community you've joined.
This evening, as tradition dictates, we gather to mark the
official beginning of your academic experience. Your faculty
welcome you as candidates for the degree of master in business
administration, and we have some thoughts we'd like to share as
you begin this journey.
During your first weeks with us, we've given you a look at all
of the opportunities available to you—both inside and beyond
the classroom. Each of these activities is important and will
shape your experience here. They will also define your readiness
for the next chapter in your business careers.
Among this vast menu of choices, however, your academics
are paramount. Extra- and co-curricular activities augment, but
cannot supplant, the learning that you must do through coursework.
After all, the degree of master in business administration—by
its very name—requires that you master a body of
knowledge and a practice of analysis and action that will make
you effective business leaders.
Jane Jacobs, in her recently published book, Dark Age Ahead,
explores what she believes are the root causes of the vast changes
taking place throughout the world today, changes that she believes
predict a steep decline in human progress.
It's true that our world has changed dramatically in just a
short period, and I believe we are in a time of real crisis.
Social, political and economic polarization along ideological
lines has perhaps never been so serious, threatening the global
marketplace, and, with it, the full energy of human potential.
We stand at a turning point. If we allow public discourse
to degrade any further into a battle of simply who is right and
who is wrong or whose beliefs are superior to all others; if we
attempt to super-impose the economic or political ideologies of
one culture on top of another without regard to the values and
history of that culture; if we do not seek to expand basic human
freedoms of self-determination and full social and economic
participation—then, our future is, indeed, bleak.
Jacobs identifies problems under five categories of specific
concern that she believes underscore our ability to turn this situation
around: the roles of family and community; independent
scientific inquiry, government, public trust in the professions,
and higher education.
The final two—public trust in the professions and higher
education—are of particular interest to our academic enterprise
here at the Wharton School.
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