What is it wroth?

Senator Steve Fielding announced in Punch, after the "F-I-S-K-A-L" difficulty, that he was suitable for his Senate position, despite his admitted problems with articulation and spelling (and the 29% in HSC/VCE English), putting forward as evidence for his smarts his great VCE maths scores, his Bachelor of Engineering, and his Masters of Business Administration.

Do you notice anything really odd about his argument?  (Hint: three letters).

While I think his policies are wrong headed, and that he was only elected because of tactical shenanigans of the ALP, dyslexia and similar conditions shouldn’t preclude anyone from serving in parliament.

I cannot begrudge him his BEng, for as the old uni joke goes "three years ago I couldn’t spell engineer, now I are one".

I cannot argue that he cannot read legislation carefully simply because he cannot generate language perfectly.  (I can get a fair idea of the thrust of philosophical Latin, but I couldn’t write or speak it well enough to get directions to the colosseum or ask the price of a Falernian).

However, there is something very telling in his statement… and it doesn’t damn Fielding.

It damns the institution that awarded him his MBA – Monash University – back in 1992.

The MBA is supposed to certify that you are suitable for very senior positions in organizations, especially companies.

When was the last time you saw an advertisement for an executive position that had "high level of communication skills desirable but not mandatory"?

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See Also:

• "Did Senator Fielding pass calculus" (2009-06-14) looks at Fielding’s idiotic interpretations of climate change data and policy.
   
• "What’s wrong with MBAs? A lot!" (2008-11-26) is a more general complaint about MBAs: no thesis

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