Deep-mountain Monks

An ass in Germany is a professor in Rome. When I came across this proverb, my initial response was: oh Italians must really be stupid! Later I found its counterpart in Chinese: Monks from deep mountains are better at scriptures. Remoteness creates mysteries which gild normal people and make them look like masters to natives. Sometimes it's true: if you think of the better education system in the US, it's probably reasonable to assume that PhDs with foreign degrees may have higher academic levels. Sometimes it's not: people look better simply because of information asymmetry. In either case, students with foreign degrees have advantages over their peers in domestic markets. My previous blog Studying Abroad introduced "returnees" to China with foreign degrees, and some of them - specially those graduating from Ivy League, become professors and senior researchers. But their research experiences and academic achievement, though important, are hardly checked.

But now, better communication technologies and more frequent information exchange makes it possible for people to know more about lives of deep-mountain monks. Documentaries, reports and articles help non-travelers understand what's happening on the other side of the world. Their degree diploma, dissertations and published papers can all be tracked by a few clicks on websites or telephone counseling. A few days ago, it was released that two professors, claiming to receive their PhDs abroad, one from Columbia University and the other from Toronto University, lied about their experiences. One of them only visited Columbia University for one year, and the other listed papers published by a same-name professor at Yale on his CV. Degree fraud is no longer breaking news, returnees fibbed about oversea degrees before - some graduating from non-existent colleges, some upgrading the degrees they received. But this time, employers responded very quickly - one of them was removed from her tenure-position already, and the other is under investigation as well. Deep-mountain monks can't make their experiences up and fool people in the information era.


Counterfeits should be blamed on their dishonesty, but the motivation for their fraud roots in blind worship for diploma. Degrees do not always reflect people's capacity or talent (though you can take it as orthogonal to human's value), and far too much value is attached to it in China. Abroad degrees arouse people's curiosity about foreign lives, and admiration of "advanced education". But what really makes deep-mountain monks stand out in their peers is the experiences they gain from traveling and living abroad. Unfortunately these experiences cannot be reflected by indicators, which may explain why they resort to good degrees when trying to sell themselves in domestic job market. It's nice that now people are wary of blind worship for foreign degrees, and pay more attention to their capacity. If the information can be transparent enough that people know how to evaluate these returnees' capacity, and make it comparable to domestic graduates, the myths of deep-mountain monks will be broken as well.


The same principle applies to food. When I was in China, I had a fantasy for Western bakery and fast food (Fried chicken is really good), partly because of the "secret" recipe they had, partly because of their rarity. But since I came to the US, I started to realize these "deep-mountain monks" are actually wandering monks who appear every 10 miles along highways. Almost suddenly I lost my interests in these drunk food, and started to miss my old Chinese cuisine. This is what happened after all the illusion and fancy have gone, and I could fairly assess different types of food. 


I don't know if this solution can also address the myths of oversea returnees. But if people have more opportunities to travel abroad, or even live there for a few years, they probably will gain better understanding of these foreign monks, which in turn will discourage students abroad from lying on documentary stuff. Internet could also help with this: I found reviews and ratings on Honda dealership in the bay area very helpful with my auto purchase decision. Maybe one day, we can have a global rating system for each people, like what LinkedIn is trying to do in job markets, so that employers will have more comprehensive ideas of candidates, not only their degrees  and papers.