A few days ago, as I was discussing with a colleague of mine, a teacher of Arabic and a B.A. holder, their latest strike, he said that they were calling for a promotion for their B.A. To be honest, I really sympathized with them, for they have every right to be promoted. However, to my utter astonishment, he added that unlike us DEUG holders, they are more experienced, more academically mature, and more knowledgeable. I asked him to repeat what he had just said to make sure whether he really meant it or not. He reiterated that compared to our DEUG, a first university degree, a B.A is a sign of competence, experience, maturity and knowledge. ‘That is why we have to be promoted and rewarded for our work,’ he said.
Instantly, I began to argue with him so as to convince him that DEUG holders are also competent, if not more competent than B.A. holders. Frankly, I failed to convince him, not because I did not have the proofs to prove him wrong, but because I think he is amongst other B.A. holders who have that fixed, unjustified idea of being more experienced and competent than holders of DEUG. Because of his stubbornness and out of my self-confidence about my arguments, I chose not to carry on the discussion. Below are several reasons why his statement is not always true.
First, the fact that many of my ex-classmates and ex-friends did not succeed when they sat for the entrance exam to CPR, while others succeeded is living proof that the former are more competent than the latter. Here, the former, because of their failure, have the chance to pursue their studies soon after they get their DEUG, whereas the latter, because of their success, go immediately to the training center to become middle school teachers. Second, recent studies show that most of B.A holders who are in ENS are those who failed the entrance exam to CPR. And those who succeeded in the latter are simply the ones who will not have the chance to continue their studies.
Third, ENS is a teacher training center where high school teachers graduate, and CPR is where middle school teachers graduate. To my knowledge, this has been the case for many years now. I am not suggesting that ENS graduates are less competent, nor am I favouring CPR graduates. Rather, I am simply explaining that CPR graduates or DEUG holders are not necessarily less competent in comparison with the other category. No way for drawing an analogy!
Fourth, CPR graduates are known to get the highest grades at the faculty. That is why they seize any opportunity they are offered. And it is also because they are afraid they might lose the chance that strikes once. Getting high grades enthuses them with a willingness to land any professional job. However, some ENS applicants didn’t get the grades that would qualify them to apply for CPR, the first chance. That is why they have to wait with bated breath for the second chance, ENS.
In fact, high grades are most of the time a criterion of success, and being the first one to be offered a chance to become a teacher too is usually a sign of competence. Hence, this colleague of mine should not have mistaken our first chance to become teachers for immaturity and lack of experience. We have become what we are today because of our diligence and early success. And it is a grave mistake to think that the more years one spends at university, the more experienced and competent he or she becomes.
Fifth and for the sake of clarity, I would like to stress that those who forgo the first chance in order to attain the second chance are few and far between. I deem this category an exception here. In this case, the colleague in question was amongst those who spent their university days validating modules only averagely until he was at last called on to sit for the entrance exam. By the time, fortunately for him, he had already got his B.A.
Sixth, I do not think he has to blame me for being a DEUG holder, for I am completely certain that had he too got high grades in his first years at the faculty, he would have undoubtedly joined CPR with his first university degree, DEUG. But his average marks did not allow him to do so until he got his B.A., the diploma on which he now prides himself.
Lastly, as I have experienced, I have come to the conclusion that most DEUG holders master their specialty ‘perfectly’, but not all B.A. holders do, that most DEUG holders ranked first or second at university, but not all B.A. holders do, and that most DEUG holders are approved of as great speakers and writers by their professors, but not all B.A. holders are.
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