In what is perhaps overselling the sizzle at the expense of the steak, The Straits Times has published a confessional on Oct. 29, 2014, by Joyce Lim -- one of their veteran reporters -- in a bid to convince Singaporeans that they don't need a degree to break into certain fields.

In the article, "Mindset matters more than a degree", Lim writes about how she got her big break in The New Paper 16 years ago after she cold-called the photo editor numerous times and finally landed an interview. From there, she worked her way up and made it in ST despite not having a degree.

But all you need to do is read till paragraph eight to figure out that this was all written in a bid to hard-sell convey the ASPIRE message.

Video explaining what ASPIRE is trying to achieve:

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A bit of context before we proceed: The ASPIRE committee, chaired by Indranee Rajah, Senior Minister of State, Ministry of Law and Ministry of Education, was formed to prepare and empower Polytechnic and ITE graduates to thrive in the economy of the future.

The concern is that this group of individuals will all want to upgrade their educational status to be degree-holders, but the fact is, a Singapore filled with degree-holders is a Singapore full of false hope and dashed dreams as not everyone will end up with a cushy high-flying career or well-paying white-collar job.

ASPIRE is an acronym that stands for Applied Study in Polytechnics and ITE Review.

Employers need to change their mindsets first

Therefore, it is easy to nod your head and clap your hands and agree fully with what Lim is trying to say: For those who don't have degrees, this shouldn't be a self-limiting factor. All you need is guts, foolhardiness, naivety, perseverance, tenacity, derring-do, street smarts, passion, unconventional thinking, hands-on skills... to make headway in life and in your career.

And this is when reality and clear-headed thinking sets in.

Isn't it obvious that what needs to be changed is not the mindsets of Singaporeans as a whole, but rather that of employers, institutions and the government, in particular?

Shouldn't they be convinced that degrees are really not the best judge of capability and character?

Because until that happens, Lim's personal anecdotal example makes it clear to everyone that anyone with a degree will already have an advantage by having one foot in the door, while a non-degree holder will need to beg, cajole and coax and try all ways to advertise his or her abilities just to land a job.

More to the point: Until the day ST as an employer actually hires reporters with polytechnic and ITE certificates without them cold-calling, string-pulling or doing funambulism just to get noticed, would be when we can all really sit down and talk about how degrees are not necessary.

But that's not all. One last thing.

Here's something Lim wrote:

Like most jobs, it takes a lot of independence and drive for one to excel in the workplace, something that would be difficult to teach in a classroom.

I have witnessed many non-degree holders who possess the ability to look at things from different perspectives, succeed in the newsroom.

So, the question: When it comes time for promotion, how does her non-graduate colleagues feel when they see their book smart but less competent graduate-scholar counterparts leapfrogging everybody to be promoted into senior management positions by virtue of having a degree?

Now, that's an article I would pay a lot of money to read.

Related article:

S’pore wants fewer university degree holders. Here are the media reports trying to convince you.

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