“I have been waiting for promotion to go into one of those offices upstairs,” continued the clerk. “I have been told that I don’t have the educational qualifications. They said to me: ‘You need a degree.’ But you know something, Mma? Having a degree has nothing to do with being able to do the job they do up there. A degree doesn’t teach you how to add up rental income. A degree doesn’t teach you how to deal with contractors. A degree doesn’t make you good at dealing with builders when they try to cheat you on a contract. Oh no, Mma, none of that is taught at the university. All they do there is teach you big words and long sentences.”

“Ah,” said Mma Ramotswe. She felt some sympathy for the clerk; she herself had left school at sixteen and although she would have liked to have had further education, it had not hampered her unduly. Of course, had she wished to get to the level of somebody like Clovis Andersen and write a book on private detection, then she would undoubtedly need a degree. Mr. Andersen, she knew from the biographical details at the back of The Principles of Private Detection, had a BA from Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana. She could never aspire to that, but when it came to the work she did, she felt that her education was perfectly satisfactory.

“And then,” continued the clerk, “they send those students out at the end of their course and say, ‘Go off and use those big words and long sentences to get all the good, high-paying jobs. And once you’re in those jobs, always remember to use long sentences to protect your position. If you use long sentences, nobody will dare remove you. That is an important rule that we have worked out.’ That is what they say, Mma—I have heard it on very good authority.”

“I think promotion should be on merit,” said Mma Ramotswe. “Everybody should be judged the same, whether or not they have a whole cupboard full of certificates. The question should be: Can this person do this job? That is all they need to ask themselves.”

This pleased the clerk. “Oh, Mma,” he said. “It’s so good to hear some common sense being talked.”