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Well, most people do not realize that the word 'educate' comes from the latin 'educo'. It basically means to educe, or lead one or lead out one's self. Very interesting. Someone with no formal schooling can thus be 'educated' from experience...look at Henry Ford. Not well schooled, certainly educated. Just food for thought.
In my opinion I enjoy being around interesting, well read people. They do not have to have a formal education but need to be curious about the world and to follow through to answer their curiousity.
How many of you remember parents or grandparents (maybe great grandparents) who had an eighth grade education in a rural one room school house? Even close to 70 years after graduating eighth grade my father could still recite stansa after stansa of many long poems (The Song of Hiawatha, Evangeline, etc). My mother did research on her serious health problems by requesting & reading research papers published in leading medical journals (this was long before computers and the internet). In one amazing situation she had read a recently published journal article even before the medical specialist that she seeing had read it himself.
Many people of my parent's generation were not even able to attend high school (as you needed to pay for your own transportation, books and in some cases tuition) and they needed to get full time jobs at age 13 or 14 to help support their families during the depression or to work full time on the family farm. However, many of those same eighth grade graduates could easily beat most of the students attending college today when you compare general knowledge about history, literature and current events.
I don't care if you are a college grad or not as long as we can have a good conversation about many different topics.
Last edited by germaine2626; 11-17-2012 at 10:29 AM..
Anyone who looks down on anyone else has a problem of personal insecurity.
Where I work, I'd match my mind against anyone's, truly. It took a while to understand that the bad attitudes aren't about merit at all. I wasn't real happy to understand that about people, but I think it can be true.
People definitely look down on the third-shift people, and I think they think we are not smart enough to work days. Well, we're smart enough to avoid self-important day people, that's for sure. I remember one young snot who worked a few nights with my two co-workers and me. One co-worker was putting himself through Harvard biochem, another had a degree from a good private college, had three black belts and was focusing on his martial arts, and I was, well, making a living, having decided my plan for my master's degree wasn't gonna fly. The three of us had the best conversations of my life, and young snot was saying something like, "You guys are so smart, you should be working days!" He got the real answer to that.
I will still match my mind against anyone's. If someone looks down on me because I lack career ambitions and a recent or high-falutin' degree, shame on them.
Back in the early 80s I worked in a purchasing dept (manufacturing) as an assistant (secretary/clerk). I was promoted to Vendor Scheduler two years later (mainly ensuring product arrived on time). During that time there were Buyers/Sr. Buyers serving as excellent mentors and role models, and I learned a great deal about procurement.
Eventually I was promoted to a Jr. Buyer position. A few years down the road I talked with the Purchasing Manager about the possibility of being promoted to a Buyer position. She informed me that it would never happen because I didn't have a college degree. I asked what the degree would be in and her response was it didn't matter, just as long as I had a degree.
Her opinion was that anyone who had obtained a degree proved they were disciplined and dedicated. My opinion was that the years I had on-the-job-training should have some bearing on my experience and qualifications but she adamantly disagreed. She continued to emphasize that a degree was the only way I would move up the ladder. I asked if HR required the degree and she firmed stated, Yes. I went to HR and was told that, No, a degree was not required for the Buyer position; however, it was required for a Sr. Buyer position.
The Purchasing Manager left the company and when the new manager came on board I spoke with him about the possibility of being upgraded to a Buyer position. He never mentioned anything about needing a degree, and shortly thereafter I was promoted.
Just proved that, in my particular situation, it was the manager who was calling the shots; and I am thankful I didn't give up.
Thanks for the continuous and varied replies to this thread.
I might've already mentioned it, but I'm guessing a high percentage of my "self-doubts" that spawned this questioning have all come from a combination of things in my own head and the work environment I put up with daily.
The jobs I've been doing for a while have been on the "okay" side of things, but it's getting to that point where I'm definitely feeling the need for something both better and different.
In my opinion I enjoy being around interesting, well read people. They do not have to have a formal education but need to be curious about the world and to follow through to answer their curiousity.
I do heavily with this, as for well read, I want to include the internet, nowadays there are more forms of info then books.
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