| It's Not What You Know
John Kallam graduated with a BA in criminology
and entered the US Army. He served for 20 years
beginning in the late 1930s. He was an investigator
during the Nuremberg trials of Nazi war criminals
and stayed in Germany for many years organising
civilian police forces in the post-war era. He also
wrote numerous books on criminal justice. He
retired from military service in the late 1950s
at the rank of full colonel.
Returning to Fresno, California, he began
teaching criminology at what was then
Fresno State College (later to become the
California State University, Fresno). His
work was well respected, but after about
ten years of service, he was called to see
the president of the college.
He was informed that he could no longer teach
with just a bachelor's degree. Times were changing,
he was told, and the school demanded that faculty
members hold a graduate degree. Merely having
20 years of distinguished experience was no
longer considered sufficient qualification to teach.
All new faculty were being required to hold a
doctorate, it was explained, and the school was
actually doing him a favour by letting him keep
his job by getting 'only' a master's degree.
So John enrolled in a summer program at an
out of state college. Three months of intensive
seminars and then nine months of home study
would get him his MA.
On the first day of class, the instructor was
taking roll. He stopped when he read John's
name.
"Are you related to the John Kallam who
wrote the textbook we'll be using?" he asked.
"I am the John Kallam who wrote the textbook
you're using," came the dry response. | 
