Paper over Substance (and bear with me)...

When an employer interview, prefer then hire per a degree and/or certification over actual knowledge and/or skill, it is primarily due to laziness or ignorance of the HR department or hiring manager who will not or cannot properly assess the interviewee's work experience. Secondly, this preference is driven at times by contract requirements with other companies or government, maybe even customer expectations, still ultimately due to the aforementioned reason. Ironically, this tremendously naive faith in credentials have long been found inconsistent, flawed, erred even completely baseless. Hence it should be stated quite plainly, paper is noteworthy only if representational of something substantial. As a diploma-less, self-taught software engineer (since mid/late 1980s), I have encountered early on (yet overcome) many such biases and prejudices.

Concisely, society have become duped by a piece of paper over substance. So much so, similar paper schemes have cancerously infected other economic as well political activities.

Monetarily, we placed the same sort of naive confidence in government's monopolized albeit ever-declining fiat currency, again, paper over substance (i.e. gold, silver or any other commodity backing).

Politically, there again, we placed a naive reverence upon the (2nd perhaps unlawful or unethical) Constitution and Bill of Rights (well flawed per Federalist Paper No. 84) to preventively guarantee although failed to maintain a small government so to purpose and preserve each person's Life, Liberty and Property, consequently, detrimentally, paper or rhetoric over substance.

Ideologically, it only worsens for we placed naive accuracy on books, essays, now blogs, soundbites even 1-line tweets postulating, espousing Isms of various unfounded varieties as in Socialism, Interventionism (economically or militarily), Paternalism, Protectionism, Modern Liberalism, Neo Conservatism, and more, while expostulating empirical evidences as well plain facts to the contrary, therefore tear-stained paper, sentimental words or emotional feelings over substance.

Why? For the same reason mentioned initially; laziness and/or ignorance. We rather be spoon-fed information by others as well to arbitrarily emote, to whimsically feel instead to logically ponder and endlessly labor while performing our own due diligence by personal studies over not a few days or weeks but years, decades if not an entire lifetime.

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Come let us Reason. Peace is always a Choice.
Study, Ponder, Labor, till last Breath.

Is 1:18. Mt 5:9.
2 Tm 2:15 / Cl 3:23.

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For more views on a fundamentally related topic...

100 Proems & Poems on the Peculiar Human ABILITY to REASON, Singular Human RIGHT to CONSENT & Other Neglected Matters
https://cafeperq.blogspot.com/2017/07/ability-to-reason-right-to-consent_45.html

More Proems & Poems on the Peculiar Human ABILITY to REASON, Singular Human RIGHT to CONSENT & Other Neglected Matters
http://cafeperq.blogspot.com/2018/11/more-proems-poems-on-peculiar-human.html