“A degree can pretend to give security for nothing but the science of the graduate; and even at that it can give but a very slender security. For his good sense and discretion, qualities not discoverable by an academical examination, it can give no security at all.”

Adam Smith, letter to Dr. William Cullen, September 20th, 1774 (see Correspondence of Adam Smith; Liberty Fund, pp. 176-177 (1987)).