That being said, there are lots of terms that even native born English speakers misuse, but in the area of higher education various words and expressions that many people use to indicate when a person earns a certification, degree, diploma or licensure are used inappropriately.
In this context, many individuals conflate or fail to distinguish among the words: achieve, acquire, award, complete, obtain, receive, and earn. Although these terms are connected to the situation when a person has completed all the requirements for a credential, and while sounding similar, these words are not really interchangeable.
The tendency to use words other than earn, minimizes the expenditure of personal effort, and sometimes struggle and sacrifice, and subtly prioritizes the earning of a certification, etc. as an economic transaction, rather than a symbol of a person achieving a recognized level of expertise, skills, and professionalism.
Why are each of the synonyms problematic?
To begin with, the word achieve, is most appropriately paired with a rank, and not a certification, etc. as in achieving a rank. For example, we may use this word in the sentence, “John achieved the rank of captain in the Grenadier Guards during the second world war.”
On the other hand, the expression acquire a degree, etc. is a bit of misnomer. The word acquire typically means to pick-up, purchase, or develop as in, “she acquired a taste for designer bags.” Yes in most situations, people pay money to get instruction that may lead to a certification etc., but this would also imply that the more one spends on this category of services, then the better the end product. This, however, is not always the case in certifications etc.
In general, award means, “To grant as merited or due.” This implies the person has done something special. As in awarded a prize. Award also sounds very close to the word reward. The word award does not say anything about effort needed to achieve the degree etc.. And the mere act of going to school, completing a course of studies, passing these classes is tough, as it should be.
The word complete is better, and we can make due with the idea that Jane completed her diploma in finance, but for inexplicable reasons rarely is this expression used. For example, a person completes a course of studies in order to graduate. But this word says nothing of whether the person actually secured the degree, etc.
The word received is also problematic. You receive a package in the mail. Or the football player received the ball and made a touchdown.
I much prefer the word earn when used in connection with a certification, etc. Earn generally means that the person’s efforts have been scrutinized by individuals designated or capable of making evaluative judgements, or a body designed to monitor the candidates’ progress, and that they have passed some sort of test (or a series of them) rather than simply been given a piece of paper for time in grade or because they have purchased the right to be given a certification etc.
https://jeffreyianross.com/wp-content/uploads/4185983215_acfa86981e_o.jpg6821024Jeffrey Ian Rosshttps://jeffreyianross.com/wp-content/uploads/jeffrey-ian-ross-logo-04.pngJeffrey Ian Ross2023-02-14 14:57:222024-04-03 18:51:10What’s wrong with most synonyms for earning a certification, degree, diploma, or licensure?
Although filmmaker Alejandro González Iñárritu has produced numerous interesting and powerful movies, one of my favorites is his 2010 film Biutiful. The images, characters, and storyline used in this film frequently repeat in my mind and hit me at a deep and visceral level.
Set in modern day Barcelona, but rarely the neighborhoods that most typical tourists and vacationers see or experience, the story touches on salient themes including fatherhood, police corruption, power, precarity race, resistance, spirituality, and violence. Its core message, however, is somewhat ambiguous, open to interpretation, but mostly existential.
Biutiful primarily focuses on the challenges of Uxbal, a tragic figure, played by Javier Bardem, who must negotiate the precarity of his existence and those of the people he cares for and loves.
Like most tragic heroes, Uxbal repeatedly faces challenges that he must overcome, struggles against all odds, as soon as there is a sense of normalcy in his life, another tragedy occurs. In the end he is never truly redeemed.
And in this respect, the movie reaffirms the truism that life does not always follow a traditional Hollywood plot line and the good guys do not always win. There are no romantic notions employed here.
Biutiful starts with Uxbal standing in a forest. It’s lightly snowing and it appears as if he is waiting for someone.
Early in the movie we also find out the Uxbal has cancer, and he learns about it in a drab dark hospital. Neither his estranged wife nor children know about his health challenges.
Throughout the film we see numerous vignettes of Uxbal struggling to support his family. This assistance is not simply financial. Uxbal tries to give his two young children stability and normalcy, and protect them from his wife who is a schizophrenic and drug addict, with whom he has an on again and off again relationship. This danger to his children is cast in bold relief when, at one point in time, she lights a fire in the apartment, evidence of her mental problems and a source of conflict the couple experiences.
Uxbal is the middleman between a crew of illegal West Africans who are selling DVDs and handbags in the streets of Barcelona and a cadre of Chinese immigrants who are sewing knockoff designer bags in a sweat shop.
Towards the beginning of the movie, we also see Uxbal at a funeral home to ostensibly help a young child, who has passed away, make his transition to the afterlife. Our protagonist gets paid a nominal amount and leaves the place. It’s clear that some of the people who are present in the room are not happy with Uxbal’s actions and think that he’s nothing more than a petty hustler.
In order to stay in business, Uxbal must pay off the police who are always keeping an eye on him and his crew of street sellers. At one point in time, there’s a dragnet, and both Uxbal and his crew are rounded up. He goes to jail, and after his brother posts bail, is released.
Meanwhile, his lead seller faces deportation, his children are taken care of by a babysitter and later by the wife of the lead seller. It’s clear that Uxbal has difficulty getting appropriate daycare for his own children, because he does not trust his wife.
In the background is the relationship Uxbal has with his brother. We’re not sure what kind of profession his brother is in, but he’s portrayed as a scoundrel. And they are about to get some money from a developer who wants the land on which the urn of the cremated remains of his father rest.
Uxbal visits a woman who helps him prepare for a peaceful transition to the afterlife, after he dies of cancer.
He tries to reconnect with his wife, but it’s clear that she is not ready to settle down. In fact, she is sleeping with his brother. On the night before his brother and he are going to get the payment for the movement of their interred father, we see Uxbal very uncomfortable in a bar. Meanwhile his brother is happier than ever.
Uxbal feels bad for the Chinese crew who sleep in the same factory where they make the bags. He buys them a number of propane space heaters. Little does he know but the Co2 from the heaters ends up killing them. Because of Uxbal’s powers he sees their spirits floating in the sewing room near the ceiling. Uxbal helps the manager of the sweatshop dispose of the bodies; days later they wash up on the shores of Barcelona. The images of the dead Chinese workers on the ceiling are very disturbing and haunting. When the viewer sees the bodies wash up on the shore, we left with feelings of sadness, as if no one gives them the dignity they deserve.
Uxbal visits a lady who reads his future and reminds him that he has a gift (the one alluded to at the beginning of the movie). One of the notable points in the movie is when his daughter misspells the word beautiful, hence the title of the movie.
As Uxbal’s health fails, he entrusts the safety and well-being of his children to the wife of the African seller who was deported. It’s an unsatisfactory arrangement but the only one that appears plausible for him at that time.
Closure is brought about when Uxbal goes to the forest and finally meets his father. An owl traverses a stretch of land from one tree top to another.
The movie integrates elements of existentialism. Uxbal appears to question the meaning of his life, and those of others.
In some respects the movie opens a pandora’s box of questions to be asked. For example, Are the allusions to the supernatural simply background noise or a clever distraction?
More importantly, perhaps, What lessons we can learn from this movie?
Life, as are ascribed roles is complicated, relationships are typically fleeting, as is the meaning and purpose of life.
How is this lesson told?
It’s communicated through Uxbal’s struggles. Many people, especially men and fathers would have given up, and abdicated their ascribed roles and responsibilities. Uxbal, on the other hand, has a strong sense of compassion. He’s able to step outside of himself and see the discomfort and pain of others. Uxbal wants to do what he can (even if it’s a relatively small gesture) to alleviate the pain and suffering of others. And in this regard we have respect for his struggle and those of others who are in similar situations.
https://jeffreyianross.com/wp-content/uploads/Screen-Shot-2023-01-30-at-9.01.55-AM.png688985Jeffrey Ian Rosshttps://jeffreyianross.com/wp-content/uploads/jeffrey-ian-ross-logo-04.pngJeffrey Ian Ross2023-02-06 17:05:002023-04-28 21:02:50Reconsidering Iñárritu’s BIUTIFUL
Over the past few weeks the public has learned about the death of Tyre Nichols, a 29-year-old unarmed African-American man, at the hands of five black Memphis police officers. The traffic stop, which led not only to the tasering and pepper-spraying of Nichols, but his brutal beating was recorded via police body and pole-mounted cameras. The officers were quickly suspended and an investigation into their actions took place. Now they are being charged with second degree murder.
The act, that was relatively sweeping in nature, including limitations on “qualified immunity for officers, safeguards against racial profiling, and additional restrictions on police use of excessive force” was passed in Congress in 2021, but never made it to the Senate floor.
Now that the midterms are over, and the Republicans have a majority in Congress (while the Democrats have a slim majority in the Senate), the likelihood of the George Floyd Act being reintroduced in Congress is slim to none.
What options remain to change this state of affairs?
Keep in mind that policing in the United States is typically a local matter. Why? The majority of officers in this country work for counties and municipalities, and these jurisdictions have ultimate control over their employees.
So any changes in the way police are going to go about doing their job is most likely going to happen at the state and municipal/county level.
Will the killing of Mr. Nichols motivate jurisdictions other than Memphis and Tennessee to tighten up the way they go policing their citizens? Probably not.
On the other hand, we could see the city of Memphis and the Memphis Police Department (MPD) attempt to implement numerous changes in the leadership, structure and accountability process inside the MPD. (Already the Chief of police disbanded the controversial Scorpion Unit, to which the accused officers belong).
In the recent history of municipal/county policing numerous reforms have been proposed and many implemented to prevent, minimize, and control police use of excessive force. Thus at the very least some easy to implement reforms will be tinkered with in the way that police are hired, reviewed, and trained. The longer term and ultimately more impactful reforms (i.e., changes in the police culture that encourages an us versus them mentality) will be harder to implement and resisted.
Unfortunately it takes a tragedy like the death of Nichols, to implement reforms to police departments at the local level. Larger systemic changes in law enforcement will, however, most likely come when there are more widespread political changes at the national level, when the party in power (unlike the current Republicans) is willing to go beyond the talking points and rhetoric to make lasting changes.
Photo Credit:
A still from a released video recording of Tyre Nichols’s altercation with 4 out of the 5 police officers involved in his death
Memphis Police Department – WREG Memphis
https://jeffreyianross.com/wp-content/uploads/Screen-Shot-2023-01-30-at-11.05.29-PM.png321334Jeffrey Ian Rosshttps://jeffreyianross.com/wp-content/uploads/jeffrey-ian-ross-logo-04.pngJeffrey Ian Ross2023-01-31 15:42:022023-01-31 16:38:17Tyre Nichols and the reality of police reform in the United States
What’s wrong with most synonyms for earning a certification, degree, diploma, or licensure?
/by Jeffrey Ian RossIn order to minimize confusion, and be properly understood, it’s important to use words and expressions that mean what we say, and avoid ones that don’t.
That being said, there are lots of terms that even native born English speakers misuse, but in the area of higher education various words and expressions that many people use to indicate when a person earns a certification, degree, diploma or licensure are used inappropriately.
In this context, many individuals conflate or fail to distinguish among the words: achieve, acquire, award, complete, obtain, receive, and earn. Although these terms are connected to the situation when a person has completed all the requirements for a credential, and while sounding similar, these words are not really interchangeable.
The tendency to use words other than earn, minimizes the expenditure of personal effort, and sometimes struggle and sacrifice, and subtly prioritizes the earning of a certification, etc. as an economic transaction, rather than a symbol of a person achieving a recognized level of expertise, skills, and professionalism.
Why are each of the synonyms problematic?
To begin with, the word achieve, is most appropriately paired with a rank, and not a certification, etc. as in achieving a rank. For example, we may use this word in the sentence, “John achieved the rank of captain in the Grenadier Guards during the second world war.”
On the other hand, the expression acquire a degree, etc. is a bit of misnomer. The word acquire typically means to pick-up, purchase, or develop as in, “she acquired a taste for designer bags.” Yes in most situations, people pay money to get instruction that may lead to a certification etc., but this would also imply that the more one spends on this category of services, then the better the end product. This, however, is not always the case in certifications etc.
In general, award means, “To grant as merited or due.” This implies the person has done something special. As in awarded a prize. Award also sounds very close to the word reward. The word award does not say anything about effort needed to achieve the degree etc.. And the mere act of going to school, completing a course of studies, passing these classes is tough, as it should be.
The word complete is better, and we can make due with the idea that Jane completed her diploma in finance, but for inexplicable reasons rarely is this expression used. For example, a person completes a course of studies in order to graduate. But this word says nothing of whether the person actually secured the degree, etc.
Moreover, obtain is defined as, “to succeed in gaining possession of as the result of planning or endeavor; acquire.” Pairing obtained with things like degrees reflects a consumerist interpretation of education. Unless degrees or diplomas are being handed out without the necessity of doing any work, then it is best to avoid using this word in an educational context. Also the word “obtain,” does not acknowledge the hard work that the candidate has engaged in through their coursework and studies at an educational institution that if they complete their course work may confer a degree upon them.
The word received is also problematic. You receive a package in the mail. Or the football player received the ball and made a touchdown.
I much prefer the word earn when used in connection with a certification, etc. Earn generally means that the person’s efforts have been scrutinized by individuals designated or capable of making evaluative judgements, or a body designed to monitor the candidates’ progress, and that they have passed some sort of test (or a series of them) rather than simply been given a piece of paper for time in grade or because they have purchased the right to be given a certification etc.
Photo Credit
Photographer: Sergio Rivas
Title: Diplomas!
Reconsidering Iñárritu’s BIUTIFUL
/by Jeffrey Ian RossAlthough filmmaker Alejandro González Iñárritu has produced numerous interesting and powerful movies, one of my favorites is his 2010 film Biutiful. The images, characters, and storyline used in this film frequently repeat in my mind and hit me at a deep and visceral level.
Set in modern day Barcelona, but rarely the neighborhoods that most typical tourists and vacationers see or experience, the story touches on salient themes including fatherhood, police corruption, power, precarity race, resistance, spirituality, and violence. Its core message, however, is somewhat ambiguous, open to interpretation, but mostly existential.
Biutiful primarily focuses on the challenges of Uxbal, a tragic figure, played by Javier Bardem, who must negotiate the precarity of his existence and those of the people he cares for and loves.
Like most tragic heroes, Uxbal repeatedly faces challenges that he must overcome, struggles against all odds, as soon as there is a sense of normalcy in his life, another tragedy occurs. In the end he is never truly redeemed.
And in this respect, the movie reaffirms the truism that life does not always follow a traditional Hollywood plot line and the good guys do not always win. There are no romantic notions employed here.
Biutiful starts with Uxbal standing in a forest. It’s lightly snowing and it appears as if he is waiting for someone.
Early in the movie we also find out the Uxbal has cancer, and he learns about it in a drab dark hospital. Neither his estranged wife nor children know about his health challenges.
Throughout the film we see numerous vignettes of Uxbal struggling to support his family. This assistance is not simply financial. Uxbal tries to give his two young children stability and normalcy, and protect them from his wife who is a schizophrenic and drug addict, with whom he has an on again and off again relationship. This danger to his children is cast in bold relief when, at one point in time, she lights a fire in the apartment, evidence of her mental problems and a source of conflict the couple experiences.
Uxbal is the middleman between a crew of illegal West Africans who are selling DVDs and handbags in the streets of Barcelona and a cadre of Chinese immigrants who are sewing knockoff designer bags in a sweat shop.
Towards the beginning of the movie, we also see Uxbal at a funeral home to ostensibly help a young child, who has passed away, make his transition to the afterlife. Our protagonist gets paid a nominal amount and leaves the place. It’s clear that some of the people who are present in the room are not happy with Uxbal’s actions and think that he’s nothing more than a petty hustler.
In order to stay in business, Uxbal must pay off the police who are always keeping an eye on him and his crew of street sellers. At one point in time, there’s a dragnet, and both Uxbal and his crew are rounded up. He goes to jail, and after his brother posts bail, is released.
Meanwhile, his lead seller faces deportation, his children are taken care of by a babysitter and later by the wife of the lead seller. It’s clear that Uxbal has difficulty getting appropriate daycare for his own children, because he does not trust his wife.
In the background is the relationship Uxbal has with his brother. We’re not sure what kind of profession his brother is in, but he’s portrayed as a scoundrel. And they are about to get some money from a developer who wants the land on which the urn of the cremated remains of his father rest.
Uxbal visits a woman who helps him prepare for a peaceful transition to the afterlife, after he dies of cancer.
He tries to reconnect with his wife, but it’s clear that she is not ready to settle down. In fact, she is sleeping with his brother. On the night before his brother and he are going to get the payment for the movement of their interred father, we see Uxbal very uncomfortable in a bar. Meanwhile his brother is happier than ever.
Uxbal feels bad for the Chinese crew who sleep in the same factory where they make the bags. He buys them a number of propane space heaters. Little does he know but the Co2 from the heaters ends up killing them. Because of Uxbal’s powers he sees their spirits floating in the sewing room near the ceiling. Uxbal helps the manager of the sweatshop dispose of the bodies; days later they wash up on the shores of Barcelona. The images of the dead Chinese workers on the ceiling are very disturbing and haunting. When the viewer sees the bodies wash up on the shore, we left with feelings of sadness, as if no one gives them the dignity they deserve.
Uxbal visits a lady who reads his future and reminds him that he has a gift (the one alluded to at the beginning of the movie). One of the notable points in the movie is when his daughter misspells the word beautiful, hence the title of the movie.
As Uxbal’s health fails, he entrusts the safety and well-being of his children to the wife of the African seller who was deported. It’s an unsatisfactory arrangement but the only one that appears plausible for him at that time.
Closure is brought about when Uxbal goes to the forest and finally meets his father. An owl traverses a stretch of land from one tree top to another.
The movie integrates elements of existentialism. Uxbal appears to question the meaning of his life, and those of others.
In some respects the movie opens a pandora’s box of questions to be asked. For example, Are the allusions to the supernatural simply background noise or a clever distraction?
More importantly, perhaps, What lessons we can learn from this movie?
Life, as are ascribed roles is complicated, relationships are typically fleeting, as is the meaning and purpose of life.
How is this lesson told?
It’s communicated through Uxbal’s struggles. Many people, especially men and fathers would have given up, and abdicated their ascribed roles and responsibilities. Uxbal, on the other hand, has a strong sense of compassion. He’s able to step outside of himself and see the discomfort and pain of others. Uxbal wants to do what he can (even if it’s a relatively small gesture) to alleviate the pain and suffering of others. And in this regard we have respect for his struggle and those of others who are in similar situations.
Tyre Nichols and the reality of police reform in the United States
/by Jeffrey Ian RossOver the past few weeks the public has learned about the death of Tyre Nichols, a 29-year-old unarmed African-American man, at the hands of five black Memphis police officers. The traffic stop, which led not only to the tasering and pepper-spraying of Nichols, but his brutal beating was recorded via police body and pole-mounted cameras. The officers were quickly suspended and an investigation into their actions took place. Now they are being charged with second degree murder.
Although police use of deadly force against unarmed African-Americans in the United States is nothing new, in the case of Nichols, this was one of the first times that video evidence was collected depicting not simply African-American police standing in the background, but the ones who actually beat up and seem to have killed the victim.
Predictably Nichols’ death sparked lots of news media attention, public protests, and is some quarters demands that Congress return to passing the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act.
The act, that was relatively sweeping in nature, including limitations on “qualified immunity for officers, safeguards against racial profiling, and additional restrictions on police use of excessive force” was passed in Congress in 2021, but never made it to the Senate floor.
Now that the midterms are over, and the Republicans have a majority in Congress (while the Democrats have a slim majority in the Senate), the likelihood of the George Floyd Act being reintroduced in Congress is slim to none.
What options remain to change this state of affairs?
Keep in mind that policing in the United States is typically a local matter. Why? The majority of officers in this country work for counties and municipalities, and these jurisdictions have ultimate control over their employees.
So any changes in the way police are going to go about doing their job is most likely going to happen at the state and municipal/county level.
Will the killing of Mr. Nichols motivate jurisdictions other than Memphis and Tennessee to tighten up the way they go policing their citizens? Probably not.
On the other hand, we could see the city of Memphis and the Memphis Police Department (MPD) attempt to implement numerous changes in the leadership, structure and accountability process inside the MPD. (Already the Chief of police disbanded the controversial Scorpion Unit, to which the accused officers belong).
In the recent history of municipal/county policing numerous reforms have been proposed and many implemented to prevent, minimize, and control police use of excessive force. Thus at the very least some easy to implement reforms will be tinkered with in the way that police are hired, reviewed, and trained. The longer term and ultimately more impactful reforms (i.e., changes in the police culture that encourages an us versus them mentality) will be harder to implement and resisted.
Unfortunately it takes a tragedy like the death of Nichols, to implement reforms to police departments at the local level. Larger systemic changes in law enforcement will, however, most likely come when there are more widespread political changes at the national level, when the party in power (unlike the current Republicans) is willing to go beyond the talking points and rhetoric to make lasting changes.
Photo Credit:
A still from a released video recording of Tyre Nichols’s altercation with 4 out of the 5 police officers involved in his death
Memphis Police Department – WREG Memphis