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For every time I hear somebody talking trash about a person without a college degree
I hear 20 times people without degrees talking trash about people with college degrees.
And don't even try to tell me that that's not true.
This, absolutely.
I simply cannot recall a situation where someone with a degree was belittling a person without one, at least not since I was probably 20 years old. However, in the 20 years since, I have encountered dozens of people without degrees who have gone to great lengths to prove that they are as educated, or more so, than college graduates despite not having a degree; as if those who were wise enough to avoid college had someone gotten one over on those suckers who attained degrees.
I've always assumed it was some sort of defense mechanism.
People confuse formal education with intelligence. I know many people who don't have degrees who are extremely intelligent.
My general take is this:
In order to obtain a degree you must have a reasonablelevel of intelligence (which can be well above average or even possibly a bit below in some cases, within the exception of some fields that demand super high IQs like medicine, physics, etc. Someone who isn't super intelligent will just have to work much harder for a degree.
But there's absolutely no requirement that a person with a reasonable or even exceptional (genius level) intelligence possess a degree.
Being educated and intelligent often correlate with one another, but not always.
Very true. I had an uncle who had a couple of degrees, one being a Masters in Chemical Engineering. He worked as a chemist for GAF. Highly educated, and I'm sure that in his field he was fantastically knowledgeable, but for everyday purposes, he was as dumb as a sack of hammers. He was pretty much incapable of performing the most mundane chores without supervision.
A statistics course (from Formal Education) would have taught you that 1 in a million is no explanation for something.
In addition, Steve Jobs died b/c he thought he knew more than his doctors. I'd call it pretty ignorant to not listen to someone who knows more than you about something.
I've kind of felt like this at times too, when people with graduate degrees assumed that I was less educated than they were because of my lack of a formal certification. I don't belittle the hard work that goes into a grad program. In fact, I did lots of formal grad work, and while I had to quit my official program (due to issues with the school itself, not because I failed out or anything), I've spent many years involved actively in the field. Had I put a tenth of that research/writing/study/etc. into finishing my program, I would have nice little letters behind my name as well. But I've had conversations where the other person and I were on equal level, it seemed, and once it came up that I didn't have a formal graduate degree, all of the sudden there was a bit of condescension or the conversation ended or whatnot. Didn't happen every time, but it did happen sometimes. So, I can see how that would work for someone not having an undergraduate degree too, possibly even more so.
It never happened in my field at work where my work and knowledge were respected. I know what I know and it doesn't really matter if I obtained that information from the most prestigious university, through personal reading and exploration, or through some form of osmosis. I have known people with advanced degrees who couldn't survive a simple power outage. I have a friend with a masters, her thesis was about women in 17th century French literature. What good will all that study and writing ever do her? She lives in the 21st century in the US. A strong intellect and the ability to learn quickly was all I needed to thrive. I recognize that today that might not get me in through the front door, but I quickly learned how to come in the back and use the staircase.
The simple truth is that a person with academic credentials is by definition more educated than someone without. Period. It doesn't necessarily mean they are smarter or better skilled but it absolutely does mean they are more educated.
Feeling annoyed by that reflects the sense of inferiority on your part rather than one of superiority on theirs.
While I have a degree, my girlfriend does not. She is currently in a payroll position in which most of the people around her have degrees. From her experience and what she describes to me on a daily basis, most of them are very inefficient, overwhelmed by little problems, and usually go to her for assistance. They also all do the same work (she actually has more responsibilities) but they are on a significantly higher pay grade because of their degrees.
She is now awaiting an offer letter for an admin assistant position at a larger company for more pay.
But pretty much I do not think a degree makes you educated, and vice versa. I have a college degree, and I cannot remember anything I learned in college. It is essentially a certificate utilized by HR to weed out employees for certain positions.
Again, there is an important distinction between formal education and intelligence/ability.
As for the degree, I think it has a bit more utility than that. Of course it should not be the sole means of determining someones intellectual capacity, but it is far from simply a certificate to weed people out: It is a sign of strong specialization in a given field. It is also worth saying that not all programs or universities are made equal (And it isn't always based on prestige. My opinion of many of UNC's academic programs today is quite low) While you may not remember anything you learned in college, I can vividly remember conversations had in my historiography classes years ago.
As I said in another thread on another forum: My history degree doesn't mean I know everything about history, or that I am somehow the guardian of time and space, but it does mean that I probably have a greater depth of knowledge than somehow who has played Call of Duty and watched Patton and a few episodes of Band of Brothers.
The simple truth is that a person with academic credentials is by definition more educated than someone without. Period. It doesn't necessarily mean they are smarter or better skilled but it absolutely does mean they are more educated.
Feeling annoyed by that reflects the sense of inferiority on your part rather than one of superiority on theirs.
However I've known people who use their degree as a defensive shield against criticism against their opinion or designs. Simply having a degree doesn't make on infallible nor open to criticism. I see this most often with educators, architects, and engineers. In my work we see the effects of bad engineer planning. An area is converted for a new purpose but the engineer didn't factor the amount of bodies and electronic devices generating heat when designing the HVAC system nor factoring in the machines using large amounts of water in their plumbing designs. There's also been problems of the amount of electrical use in the newly converted area tripping breakers because the electrical system in the area wasn't upgraded for the equipment to be used in the area. We bring up these concerns during planning and are shot down because he has the engineering degree and we don't.
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