Antipathy Toward College Educated (SAT, employment, bachelors, requirement)

[kj1065]

Originally Posted by Babe_Ruth

Related to this thread.. It kills me when a young college graduate boasts about being the "first in their family to graduate college". So what?

They may have accomplished something unique within their family (fair enough).. But it implies (to me), they feel like they've done something better than their ancestors. Which I don't believe.. All the veterans, good parents, skilled tradesmen, that may have comprised their family tree. But they're declaring they've secured a college degree (sometimes in impractical fields, etc). It's not as (relatively) meaningful as the accomplishments of your ancestors. It strikes me as an overstated accomplishment, and implies that simply from a degree, they've somehow bettered their ancestors.. just a pet peeve of mine, not a fundamental antipathy toward college education.

I mean you never really hear welders boasting about being the "first in their family" to weld. But that's a very practical, useful skill. And they can make a lot of $. A college degree is not a unique feat to gloat.. even tho society does seem to impart that lesson.

At my daughter's commencement, there were a couple dozen students who wore a sash indicating that they were the first of their family to graduate college. It was my observation that the graduate's parents and grandparents took much more pride in that sash than the graduate did. Just sayin'.

[TamaraSavannah]

Originally Posted by Retroit

I think the sentiment has been there for a long time (decades). Consider a non-college educated person who has been working for four years encounters a college educated person who hasn't, specifically someone with a useless liberal arts degree which doesn't really prepare you for much. The former has a real world understanding and the latter has had liberal smoke blown up their behind by liberal professors trapped in their liberal bubble.

It's different for those with a technical degree, like a doctor, engineer, scientist. I think they always have been respected by the non-college educated.

Why all the hate for "liberal arts"?

These "people" Moderator cut: link removed, competitor site are using geography and that's liberal arts.

Basically, if there is antipathy, it may have been put into their heads by a media that may not know what they are talking about.

[Hermit12]

Stop referring to people with high school diplomas who didn't attend college as the 'uneducated.'

[kj1065]

Originally Posted by Hermit12

Stop referring to people with high school diplomas who didn't attend college as the 'uneducated.'

Only one poster wrote uneducated, and I'm fairly certain it was not intentional. Almost everyone made a point of writing non-college educated.

[Hermit12]

Originally Posted by kj1065

Only one poster wrote uneducated, and I'm fairly certain it was not intentional. Almost everyone made a point of writing non-college educated.

Not in this thread ... I'm talking about in general. I hear it all the time.

[RocketDawg]

Originally Posted by Solere

This is not a political post.

Recent media reports of government proposed student loan debt forgiveness in my opinion seem to have unleashed a lot of antipathy toward college educated people collectively.

When I have written persuasive letters in the past quoting professors and subject matter experts with higher education degrees, those with no college education would sometimes respond with a "What do they know?" attitude" or "I don't need a professor" to tell me what to think" remark.

Has there for many years been an underlying antipathy toward the college educated from the non-college educated that was aggravated by the recently announced debt forgiveness plan?

I have advanced degrees in engineering, but I've seen very, very little antipathy toward those with degrees. But, I live in a highly educated town and there are a large number of engineers. I've only seen one case that I know of - one of my golf buddies seems to resent all the rest - all of which have degrees. He smirks when he says, "He's got a PhD". But that's all.

That said, there should be no student loan forgiveness. The student's signed a document saying they'd pay the loan back, and they should I did, my son and his wife did, and my wife and her sister did. Repayment has to be a top priority. A person should be aware of what they're signing.

And I can certainly understand the resentment of those who didn't go to college for whatever reason. I don't blame them at all.

However - the world has to have degreed people in certain occupations. Our technology would be at a standstill without an educated populace.

[Williepaws]

Wow, oh wow! what a thread! talk about entitlement! Look at yourselves and your attitudes. Many of you are giving education a bad name. Get out in the real world for a change!

[kj1065]

Originally Posted by Williepaws

Wow, oh wow! what a thread! talk about entitlement! Look at yourselves and your attitudes. Many of you are giving education a bad name. Get out in the real world for a change!

How so? What is not "real world" about having a degree?

[tnff]

Originally Posted by Babe_Ruth

Related to this thread.. It kills me when a young college graduate boasts about being the "first in their family to graduate college". So what?

They may have accomplished something unique within their family (fair enough).. But it implies (to me), they feel like they've done something better than their ancestors. Which I don't believe.. All the veterans, good parents, skilled tradesmen, that may have comprised their family tree. But they're declaring they've secured a college degree (sometimes in impractical fields, etc). It's not as (relatively) meaningful as the accomplishments of your ancestors. It strikes me as an overstated accomplishment, and implies that simply from a degree, they've somehow bettered their ancestors.. just a pet peeve of mine, not a fundamental antipathy toward college education.

I mean you never really hear welders boasting about being the "first in their family" to weld. But that's a very practical, useful skill. And they can make a lot of $. A college degree is not a unique feat to gloat.. even tho society does seem to impart that lesson.

So what? Because for many, many families it is a major achievement involving the whole family, even the extended family to get that first person into and through college. They are "boasting" about themselves but carrying the dreams of an entire extended family. And that whole extended family is prouder of them than they of themselves and gets to dream through them. Because now, someone in that family has "made it" and give the rest of the family a path for future.

[North Beach Person]

Originally Posted by tnff

So what? Because for many, many families it is a major achievement involving the whole family, even the extended family to get that first person into and through college. They are "boasting" about themselves but carrying the dreams of an entire extended family. And that whole extended family is prouder of them than they of themselves and gets to dream through them. Because now, someone in that family has "made it" and give the rest of the family a path for future.

Even though the high school where I taught the bulk of my career was middle/upper middle class we always had a significant number, mostly male, of graduates who were the first in their family to graduate from high school. To give perspective on time, the last graduation I was involved in was 2014.