Academic Degree and Political Responsibility

INDUSTRY.co.id - Jakarta - We live in a society that has much academic degrees. Academic titles, such as S.H. (Bachelor of Law), M.M (Master of Management) and Dr. (Doctorate), exhibited in various events, ranging from legislative elections, elections to marriage invitations. The academic title became a kind of noble emblem. Users are considered more intelligent than those without titles.

This symptom also occurs in Germany. Muenchen's thinker Julian Nida-Rümelin even wrote a book titled Der Akademisierungswahn (academic delusions) in 2014. In the book, he argues, that the German society is engulfed by academic madness. Everyone wants to go to university and get an academic degree, although they, in fact, have talents in other fields, in addition to academics.

There is a misunderstanding about the meaning of an academic degree. Indeed, the academic title touches three basic things. First, an academic degree is a symbol of one's intentions and actions to develop himself. An academic degree is a symbol of a struggle that has exhausted one's intellectual, emotional and even physical ability to develop itself.

Two, the academic degree is also a symbol of the mastery of a particular field of knowledge. The depth of mastery of science is increasing, when people have earned a master's degree or a doctorate in one particular area. With an existing academic degree, he has a responsibility to develop his field of knowledge. These two things, namely self-development and science development, are well known to the public at large. However, there is one thing that is forgotten, namely political responsibility.

Three, academic degrees contain political responsibility, namely to provide opinions related to the things that are important in political life. Political responsibility means the courage to engage in political events that affect the lives of the wider community. With analytical skills from their respective scientific point of view, people with academic degrees have a responsibility to share their analysis with regard to broader political affairs.

In Indonesia, many people who hold an academic degree have no political responsibility, nor responsibility to develop their scientific fields. They use academic degrees to enhance self-respect, without any clear content. This is a misunderstanding in understanding the meaning of an academic degree. The real honor comes not from the academic degree that is carried, but from the total and clear involvement in the affairs of the wider community of the person wearing the academic degree.

An academic degree will be meaningless, when the holder has no concern to speak clearly about the existing political issues. The title will also be empty, without any attempt to develop the science that has been explored. Unfortunately, that's what's happening now. If the academic degree is just a mere decoration, better, it is thrown away.

Agree?

Author: Reza A.A Wattimena, Lecturer in International Relations, President University, Cikarang and Researcher at President Center for International Studies (PRECIS)