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I keep hearing people throw around the word "educated" to describe people who are rich in some capacity or who are gentrifiers in my area, as opposed to the salt of the earth common people in society.
Does this simply mean one who has a college degree, or does it mean someone who has a college degree from an elite school? I don't consider myself "educated" but I have a degree due to living in a state that has a low cost 4 year college program (not every state has cheap "city" colleges).
“Educated” means that his/ her grandfather graduated from the university, both father and mother graduated from the university and the person himself graduated from the university!
It depends on how it's used. In the sense of comparing "educated" to the "salt of the earth" there are many who actually used "educated" as a pejorative. A slightly more polished version of "he may have book learnin' but he ain't got no common sense" used as an insult by many.
I keep hearing people throw around the word "educated" to describe people who are rich in some capacity or who are gentrifiers in my area, as opposed to the salt of the earth common people in society.
Does this simply mean one who has a college degree, or does it mean someone who has a college degree from an elite school? I don't consider myself "educated" but I have a degree due to living in a state that has a low cost 4 year college program (not every state has cheap "city" colleges).
i thought it meant some one who had a college degree.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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It does tend to mean college graduate or advanced degree. When referring to a well educated workforce in a city, as when a company chooses to open a new facility, it’s based on the educational demographics.
For example, in our city of 65,000 where many work for Microsoft, Amazon or Boeing in tech jobs 80% of residents have a bachelors or more. Seattle is about 60%, USA 31%.
I don't usually hear people referred to as 'educated', but I do hear the definition of 'very educated' from time to time. I take that to mean someone who has multiple degrees and is a subject matter expert. My spouse has 3 degrees and I definitely consider him to be in this group.
How is it that the OP conflates Social Class and the meaning of the word "educated" in the title here? Does it have anything to do with the value of education as seen by those who would pay millions in bribes to get their children into otherwise prestigious universities? Does that then move those students from the criminal class of their famous parents to the educated class they would hope to enter? Perhaps if one feels it necessary to stratify the populace into classes it would be better to disregard things like what schools they attended or how they got there in favor of what they have learned and the content of their character.
It's interesting that most here have construed "educated" as "college educated" with degrees or advanced degrees as prerequisites. At least one respondent required three generations of college experience before a person could be considered educated. There was a time when "self-educated" was high praise; have all the resume worshipers killed that idea? The following article may not just upset the apple cart a bit but send it careering (pun intended) to its demise.
The problem with that article however is that it equates educated with successful and to most today success is measured in dollars. My grandfather was the most educated man I have known and I'm not even sure he graduated from high school. He was a voracious reader of history, biographies and non-fiction but also appreciated a great novel. Before he died over fifty years ago no one who spent ten minutes with him would have conceived of labeling him uneducated but he had no degrees and no coffers of gold. The following article from Forbes views "educated" in a much broader sense and provides food for thought for most of the commentators here:
I was educated before I went to college. What matters is intellectual curiosity and the ability for critical thought. I didn’t magically acquire that at my university. I know lots of people with degrees from 3rd tier state schools who aren’t intellectually engaged and who have zero capability for critical thought.
I was educated before I went to college. What matters is intellectual curiosity and the ability for critical thought. I didn’t magically acquire that at my university. I know lots of people with degrees from 3rd tier state schools who aren’t intellectually engaged and who have zero capability for critical thought.
There seems to be an inconsistency between your first three sentences and your last. Is it possible you left off three more?
i have no degrees .. but i had a long career as a self taught sales engineer selling and designing control panels for industrial fans and pumps . .... i consider myself pretty educated on certain topics and pretty ignorant in the areas i have no interest
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