Do college educated persons look down on those that are less-educated?

[kevxu]

I was a working class kid who went to university on scholarships. After I was graduated (1960) I lived in NYC for the next forty years, and my circles of friends through all those years always had a mixture of college graduates, people with vocational certificates and people who had no education beyond high school (and some immigrants not even having the latter.) These circles were always based on having mutual interests and an ability to communicate with each other about them. I cannot remember anyone being concerned about whether someone had a college degree.

I have lived in Europe for the past thirteen or so years. My present circle of friends includes professional translators with university degrees, a bartender, an electrician and his wife who runs a tiny café, a potter, a guy with two university degrees who runs his parent's guesthouse in a small village and quite a few people with no education beyond high school. It is perhaps the most interesting and entertaining group of friends I have ever had.

In both places and across the space of years what has been important is whether the people had interests in common and could communicate intelligently about them, and whether they were congenial.

In the early 1960's I did know one university graduate who measured everything in his life by whether people had college degrees, jobs that in his mind were prestigious, lived and worked in the "right" neighbourhoods, etc.. Though he was pleasant and easy to have conversation with, he was too much of a tight-ass....and I was always quite aware of being an exception to his rules of who were friend material. We had met through work, so he was an isolated friend and not part of my groups of friends (where he would not have fit in.) He married an appropriate woman, and they disappeared over the horizon into the "right" neighbourhood and a summer house in the Hamptons.

I also had a boss in the 1970's, the daughter of Polish, working class parents. She had a college degree, and would never date a man who didn't have one and limited her social circles to only people with college degrees. Her attitude toward people without college degrees, even if they were successful in business or had earned a great deal of money, was one of total look-down-her-nose. She was a lousy boss, and often s******ed at among her professional associates for being a silly jackass. She would have died if she had known.

Thus, my own experience has been that it is how curious and intelligent you are, regardless of the amount of formal education, that counts. However, as the two examples in my own life illustrate, there are people who see a college degree as a kind of passport to acceptability. My instinct is to keep these latter people at arms length, so they have always seemed like a small group; however, perhaps this isn't an accurate picture.

[goldengrain]

Originally Posted by cra2ybeautiful

Well this is true most celebs sleep their way to the top though to land that lucky break. When the average guy regardless of degree, white collar or blue collar, can become a millionaire using his own ideas and wit is when I am most impressed and believe they deserve great respect as long as they are being ethical.

I have met many a condescending people with advanced degrees but I don't see a reason to it when many others i met who aren't even educated make more than they do. The only difference is that the educated people may know how to manage their money better.

Well, many people get college degrees merely in order to earn more in their lives. If money is your only goal (it should be one of them) then whoever has the most is having the better life. But this person is still the same, only has more toys to play with.

On the other hand, if are lucky enough to afford to use their college years to enrich their minds, it becomes a totally different story. If a person chooses college in order to be well rounded and more aware then his future life is a more rewarding experience. He becomes a perceptive adult. He has insights and can better appreciate the world around him. I think he is a transformed creature. Certainly, this experience should also make him a better person and so, more tolerant and understanding of his less fortunate brothers.

[goldengrain]

Originally Posted by Linda_d

Actually, your first statement directly contradicts your second one. Since many jobs require a college degree now, not having a college degree shuts out anyone seeking one of those jobs, so having a college education does mean a great deal.

If you own your own successful business or if you have a well-developed skill that you can continue to work in until you retire, then having a college education isn't particularly important. If, however, you're just starting out or don't have some skill that can get you a job (or a skill that you might only be able to work at as long as you are physically fit), then not having a college degree is going to limit your opportunities.

My comment was not clear. College today, in my opinion, means very little in comparison to what it was years back when not everyone could get that four year degree. Years back it did focus on creating a well rounded individual and was not thought of as a ticket to a job. Colleges have transformed themselves to suit the marketplace. When everyone can get into college, the value of it dilutes.

[goldengrain]

Originally Posted by DR2012

I don't at all. I don't care, and I know plenty of intelligent people who are not college grads; and plenty of idiots who are. I didn't think I would ever be a college grad, right out of high school I thought I was finished and didn't return to school for years. Therefore, I would not think of looking down on anyone else for their choice.

But I get tired of people really throwing it in my face when I make a mistake, as if now that I have a degree I should not. They don't believe a person can have both book smarts and street smarts/common sense. My in-laws do this. No one in their family has both - so therefore it's assumed I must not have common sense, because I've earned "book smarts".

Let's say, we both forget something at home on the way to work in the morning. It's OK for them; no biggie. But me, the college-educated person, now having "book smarts" must not have any common sense! And that's why I forgot the item, of course! I think this is some stupid "stereotype" or cliche this person/ 2 people in particular have heard. So, now I feel like I am scrutinized for every little thing I do, and I'm being looked down on by the non-educated for being educated. "She got all that book-learnin', now she has no common sense!" and they always bring up the fact that I'm a college grad when I do forget something, etc.

This is why a lot of college educated folks leave the companionship of the sort of people you mention behind and associate with other college educated people. You have to be tolerant and understanding of the kind of people you describe, but on the other hand, you don't want to be dragged down by associating with them, do you?

It is true that people should be taken as friends on the basis of common interests and a shared intellectual curiosity about life. Most people with active, curious, minds these days do happen to end up in college, which is why the college educated happen to have friends who have gone down that same path.

With the current lack of jobs for college graduates, I think our society may devolve, with college not being a career option for those who would qualify. Look at societies in which people are not educated. Often they are very prejudiced, superstitious, and brutish. Tribal.

This is very disturbing.

[Katarina Witt]

Originally Posted by jerseygal4u

I wouldn't exactly say most nurses have college degrees(maybe Rn's,but a majority of us have Associate degrees,not bachelors degrees).

Speak for yourself. I have a BSN. 50% of nurses in CO have at least a BSN.

[SportyandMisty]

I look down on anyone under 6'4" . At 6'4", I look someone straight in the eyes.