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.. And for those saying they have "no issues with it". You SHOULD have issues with it.. You make an effort to obtain far more formal education getting THOUSANDS Of dollars in debt only to work for high school graduates who have no debt with no formal secular higher education.
You're making probably 30-50 thousand dollars LESS than those above you with only a high school education.
Something is WRONG with that picture.. Sorry but thats the bottom line
"Back where I come from, we have universities, seats of great learning, where men go to become great thinkers. And when they come out, they think deep thoughts and with no more brains than you have. But they have one thing you haven't got: a diploma."- The Great Wizard of Oz
You continue to miss the point that what's important to an employer is the ability to do the job, nothing else. Your effort and the price of your education means no more than the price of the car you drive to work. You make less money because you add less value to the enterprise. Would you have someone with little knowledge or experience leading a business simply because of a certificate hanging on his wall?
Actually, this isn't exactly always the case.
Sometimes, employers will hire someone with a degree over someone without a degree, not because they know that person can "do the job" better.
Someone with a degree "looks good" to potential clients, to licensing agents, etc. (if applicable). The degree and the person holding it adds value and clout to the company.
Also, in some industries, they are required to hire people with a particular degree and license.
.. And for those saying they have "no issues with it". You SHOULD have issues with it.. You make an effort to obtain far more formal education getting THOUSANDS Of dollars in debt only to work for high school graduates who have no debt with no formal secular higher education.
You're making probably 30-50 thousand dollars LESS than those above you with only a high school education.
Something is WRONG with that picture.. Sorry but thats the bottom line
The most qualified should have the job. People with degrees aren't always this person. A degree doesn't guarantee you success or higher positions over others, your work and knowledge should. A degree should be a stepping stone, not a crutch.
Maybe I am jaded because I have a business degree and the only time I felt as if it has done anything for me was to get me my first job where the requirement was either 4 years experience or a degree. I've found that in most business positions past entry level, having a degree really doesn't matter. They want to know what you have done in your job, how you have grown professionally, what you have accomplished, what successes have you had. At some point in your career your degree should be one of your lesser accomplishments.
I will admit that I have worked mostly in smaller companies where there is more wiggle room but when hiring, if they found the right person who had everything they are looking for but missing a degree, they would overlook that little detail. But like I said, I have a business degree and my profession is not one that a degree is required to practice or need to be licensed.
They would be making 100-300 MILLION dollars less than Steve Jobs at Apple. All his money was in Apple stock, even though he made $1/yr. He had 5.5 million shares, worth over $2 BILLION dollars, when he retired.
Many of those engineers would have debt from graduate degrees to add to their undergrad. It would not just be thousands in debt. It would be tens of thousands in debt. They would have gone to the most expensive colleges in the nation.
Like another poster said, guys like Jobs, Gates and others are the prodigies in their field, the exceptions to the rule... But Ive never worked for any "prodigies" myself. Hell, most of the people I work for have no degrees and obtained the positions at a time when a degree wasn't even needed for the job and they just happened to be buddies with someone doing the hiring or "right place right time" A lot of them were just bumbling idiots who got the job as a "favor" Definitely nothing on Jobs or Gates' level.
And 30-50 thousand dollar differential in income is peanuts??... Especially when one individual could have a Masters Degree while their boss could have a HS diploma or even a GED???
Many of the jobs I've had would like to have had me back ,but consecutive jobs paid better.
My experience in a broad range of skills was my advantage , and when the boss took what they had for granted in me. Till I left.
It's fun to visit friends still working in those places and the boss is trying to get me back.
Retired now so it's all water under the bridge. and technology has advanced now so I am now the dinosaur. In some things.
But they have no one to work on the antiques .
Like another poster said, guys like Jobs, Gates and others are the prodigies in their field, the exceptions to the rule... But Ive never worked for any "prodigies" myself. Hell, most of the people I work for have no degrees and obtained the positions at a time when a degree wasn't even needed for the job and they just happened to be buddies with someone doing the hiring or "right place right time" A lot of them were just bumbling idiots who got the job as a "favor" Definitely nothing on Jobs or Gates' level.
And 30-50 thousand dollar differential in income is peanuts??... Especially when one individual could have a Masters Degree while their boss could have a HS diploma or even a GED???
So it's ok to work for some guys without degrees, but not others? How does that make sense?
$30k-50k is not even 1% of the larger differentials like the $100-300 million example. That's like pointing out the 1 cent increase on a gallon of milk, when there is a $2 increase on a gallon of gas.
.. And for those saying they have "no issues with it". You SHOULD have issues with it.. You make an effort to obtain far more formal education getting THOUSANDS Of dollars in debt only to work for high school graduates who have no debt with no formal secular higher education.
You're making probably 30-50 thousand dollars LESS than those above you with only a high school education.
Something is WRONG with that picture.. Sorry but thats the bottom line
Here's my take.
The college degree's sole purpose is to give you fundamentals. So while you might have spent "...THOUSANDS of dollars in debt", that was a decision you made. In fact, in some cases the kids simply had parents who were willing to do that for them.
In my case, I had parents, or parent since it was just one of them, who specifically told me I had a choice:
(A) go to college, get kicked out of the house immediately.
(B) go to work, stay there rent-free until I'm able to support myself.
Being an 18-year old kid who was a few weeks from graduating and to that point didn't know anything about "the real world", I was afraid. I took option (B) because at the time I really had no choice. I've been working full time ever since and nearly two decades later am in college trying to deal with what I couldn't do before. But it's harder. I haven't touched algebra or any of that in so long; when you jump straight from high school you still have some of that stuff. I have inklings of recollection on certain things, but that's it.
I have not managed anyone, but I have been peer to and in certain cases senior level to those who had college degrees, some Masters and some Bachelors. The reality is, I have so much work experience that I can get things done much more efficiently than those who are only college educated but have limited hands-on. That's not a ding against them, it's simply the reality. I've actually DONE the work; they have enough tools to figure out how eventually.
So I don't agree that there's anything wrong with disparity in education because the college degree should not be the sole indicator of entitlement and it's sad that so many HR departments are too short sighted to see that.
Walt Disney died almost half a century ago. Seems odd to compare people from such disparate times when college graduation rates were so much less common seems silly: https://www.census.gov/hhes/socdemo/...ry/tables.html
They said didn't graduate HIGH SCHOOL, not college.
You also missed the point.
People would do well to have HALF the drive, work ethic and passion that Disney had. He was an EXTREMELY hard worker - regardless or maybe even BECAUSE his father forced the children to work to exhaustion at a very young age. AND brilliant.
As in many professions 90% of people in those professions have a degree of one sort or another.
As a person with at least a bachelors degree in something, How has it been working for someone without one?
What was your experience?
Did they act as professionals?
It depends on the person who has a degree. Some are dimwits (like some of those who have a degree), some aren't. My 40 year-old+ sibling was in the Air Force without a degree. She's completing it now. She will get a Masters and won't be in debt the rest of her life completing it. I know a few people who worked for me had a degree and I saw no difference between how they worked and how no degreed people worked equally as well.
Also, people from foreign countries often list universities that are not verifiable. A guy from India said he had a pH.D. and from what we all saw, it was either bogus (he played the role pompously) or he was a dope.
Ah, the old, "I'm better and smarter then you because I have a degree" crap.
You were hired to accomplish specific tasks. Do them and stop caring about what degrees or lack of degrees that your co-workers have.
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