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I have a vast variety of knowledge in many fields yet I don't have a college degree (though I have dabbled in community college), and it annoys me when people assume I'm uneducated or lack skills.
It annoys me that so many of you people have a chip on your shoulder.
I have never met anyone in my life who couldn't teach me *something* I didn't know.
And I consider electrical work, HVAC, plumbing, mechanical work, etc to be a skilled trade for which I have respect for people's knowledge.
I also know that just because you do something for a living doesn't mean that's your only interest. I am a doc, but I have zero interest in dealing with any of that outside work. I enjoy art, literature, cooking, sports, handywork around the house, dog training, playing instruments, philosophy, travel, cars/motorcycles, etc.
So I can imagine that other people might feed their minds away from work, too.
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.
Or possibly obtain it from an institution with a less rigorous academic standard.
I have a vast variety of knowledge in many fields yet I don't have a college degree (though I have dabbled in community college), and it annoys me when people assume I'm uneducated or lack skills.
Maybe you should return to college. That way other people won't assume you are uneducated and you won't walk around with a chip on your shoulder for the rest of your life.
Best part - you actually will have a legitimate education. That does not mean that you are "uneducated" now, but surely you will be more educated after you get your degree. So, go for it!
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 reasonable level 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.
I know many wonderful folks that attended college with me who studied medicine and became nurses, PAs, and doctors, and some of them were not all that smart. Same can be said of many individuals pursuing any of the applied or research fields in mathematics and the sciences. Even these degrees may be obtained by surmounting intellectual deficiencies with an above average work ethic. As a society constantly in search of heroes we seem to have apotheosized the STEM fields.
I absolutely agree with you, however, that formal education and intelligence are not interchangeable. One often follows the other, but correlation does not imply causation.
How do people even know if you have a degree or not? And who are these people who are looking down on you? What is the context?
I've got a degree from a pretty elite college. A lot of my closest friends didn't even graduate community college (not to mention the majority of my family). My first mentor never went to college.
When I was working part-time retail at a store near another elite institution while making a major career change, I always found it amusing how many customers assumed I was a moron because I was behind a cash register and don't speak in a particularly cultured way outside of business meetings with clients. Many of my coworkers actually had graduate degrees. But we all got treated like morons by many customers because we weren't in an office.
I don't see any reason to take it to heart. It makes for amusing bar stories. I'd nice 'em to death and then laugh about them later. They don't signify.
This was a famous quote back in the 1960's and 70's. It even made in to a song that played on the radio. It has a lot of truth in it.
May it give you the inner peace that you seek.
Desiderata
Go placidly amid the noise and haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence.
As far as possible without surrender be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even the dull and ignorant; they too have their story.
Avoid loud and aggressive persons, they are vexations to the spirit.
If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain and bitter;
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.
Keep interested in your career, however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.
Exercise caution in your business affairs; for the world is full of trickery.
But let this not blind you to what virtue there is; many persons strive for high ideals;
and everywhere life is full of heroism.
Be yourself.
Especially, do not feign affection.
Neither be critical about love; for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment it is as perennial as the grass.
Take kindly the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune. But do not distress yourself with imaginings.
Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness. Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself.
You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.
Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be,
and whatever your labors and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul.
With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be careful. Strive to be happy.
College degree is a piece of paper. Relatively worthless, if measure by how much a person with a brand new one gets paid right out of college.
It's just not that significant. I have the bachelor's, but I'd rather be able to program and invent, and be rolling around in a Lotus in Silicon Valley.
I have a vast variety of knowledge in many fields yet I don't have a college degree (though I have dabbled in community college), and it annoys me when people assume I'm uneducated or lack skills.
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.
In my line of work, the end customer will pay more for a product that was made by people with degrees. So we hire people with degrees.
People who don't have degrees and apply think we are being pompous. Nope, we're just doing what we have to do. Has nothing to do with you.
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