If you ever meet engineering graduates of a Canadian university, take a look at the little finger of their writing hand. In all likelihood, they will be wearing a plain iron ring. This is part of tradition that stretches back to 1922 — and which emerged in the context of early 20th-century bridge collapses — in which graduating engineers take part in a ritual written by Rudyard Kipling to remind them of their ethical obligations to society as they enter the profession.
The practice, which advocates say is effective in keeping engineers honest, raises the wider question of whether oaths and rings can bind graduates to good behaviour when they leave campus — something particularly pertinent to business schools in the aftermath of the 2008 financial meltdown. “The ritual and ring certainly do still have an impact” on engineers’ professional conduct, argues Leonard Shara, chief warden of the Corporation of the Seven Wardens, an independent Canadian body that administers the ceremonies.
During the ritual, graduating engineers and the ceremony leader each grasp a link of a long iron chain that connects to a “very used” anvil, he explains. As they hold the chain, the group recites the Kipling-authored “oath of obligation”, he adds. “This is a powerful moment, one which most will remember forever.”
Engineers vow they will “not henceforward suffer or pass, or be privy to the passing of, bad workmanship or faulty material in aught that concerns my works before mankind as an engineer, or in my dealings with my own soul before my Maker”.
But despite initial enthusiasm, the number of new MBA students taking the oath has dried up (although engineering graduates at Harvard have kept faith with the idea). In 2012, DeGroote School of Business at McMaster University, based in Hamilton, Ontario, launched rings for graduating MBA students explicitly based on the iron ring tradition to remind them of their “commitment to principles of ethics and integrity upon graduation”.
Meanwhile UK business schools and universities appear to be doing a roaring trade in graduation rings, albeit without any explicit intention to strengthen graduates’ ethics in the workplace. A London-based jeweller, Eva & Eva, offers graduates products ranging from signet rings to a £325 (Rs.28,667) golden band.
The US appears to be one step ahead, however, with one company, Jostens, offering not only gemstone-encrusted rings but graduation dog tags, which can cost more than $1,000 (Rs.67,150). “Your one-of-a-kind collegiate story never looked so good,” its brochure says.