A diploma student is only taught the technique of doing or making things well, hence a technician. In a degree course, you are trained to think critically and are taught the principles of how things are done. In the western universities, they emphasise more on the how & why and not in the methods. In times when you come unstuck with new problems, a person who is trained to think critically would know instantly that he is heading for trouble whereas a technician can only carried out the work according to tested methods & practices.
So when something extraordinary happens, you get stuck in the quagmire. Even after a few years of working as a technician and then furthering your degree studies may take you a longer time, your working experience would have put you in the position of knowing what you do not know.Hence, you will be more eager to explore the everyday problems you face in your working life. You will be much off than the student from the ‘A’ levels or polytechnic college because you already have the questions whereas the polytechnic college students are learning to explore.
I have been through it and I know it by direct experience. I was a diploma holder from a local polytechnic college and it really prepared me for my degree course overseas because to my surprise most of my classmates overseas were also diploma holders from their own institutions. Today, I am holding a very senior management position because I know the ‘ropes’ i.e. I know every detail of the business and no technician can tell me what to do because I have been there, seen it and done it. Hope this is an encouragement to diploma holders and present diploma students.
