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Old 10-02-2010, 10:26 PM
 
3,164 posts, read 6,948,567 times
Reputation: 1279

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Aren't we smart?
americas-smartest-cities: Personal Finance News from Yahoo! Finance (http://finance.yahoo.com/career-work/article/110890/americas-smartest-cities?mod=career-worklife_balance - broken link)
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Old 10-02-2010, 11:53 PM
 
Location: Metro Kansas City
56 posts, read 134,074 times
Reputation: 63
It's a shame none of those degrees included a driver's ed course.
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Old 10-03-2010, 05:29 AM
 
Location: Spartanburg, SC
4,899 posts, read 7,441,179 times
Reputation: 3875
Quote:
Originally Posted by RedKnightt View Post
It's a shame none of those degrees included a driver's ed course.

Amen to that! And . . . a few etiquette classes would be extremely beneficial.
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Old 10-03-2010, 05:48 AM
 
Location: Fairfax County
1,534 posts, read 3,723,564 times
Reputation: 509
Quote:
Originally Posted by LynchburgLover View Post
Amen to that! And . . . a few etiquette classes would be extremely beneficial.
Agreed. Possessing one or more college degrees does not necessarily correlate with common sense.
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Old 10-03-2010, 06:00 AM
 
Location: Virginia
18,717 posts, read 31,070,580 times
Reputation: 42988
Quote:
Originally Posted by OrangeFish View Post
Agreed. Possessing one or more college degrees does not necessarily correlate with common sense.
You got that right! The DC metro area has an unusually high concentration of people with advanced degrees, but there are all kinds of ways to be smart.

Speaking about common sense, anyone with even a small amount can see that these lists Forbes and CNN keep churning out are getting ridiculous. It's so obvious when they keep posting new ones. Wasn't Seattle supposed to be the smartest city just last May? How much you want to bet San Francisco is declared the smartest city before the end of the year?

They just create these lists to get readers.
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Old 10-03-2010, 06:05 AM
 
Location: Arlington, VA
147 posts, read 410,266 times
Reputation: 102
Quote:
Originally Posted by RedKnightt View Post
It's a shame none of those degrees included a driver's ed course.
I drove into the city at 6:00am the other day. I expected traffic to be light. My expectations were not met. In addition to the heavy traffic, it seemed that the drivers on the road that early have some kind of death wish. Extremely high speeds, abrupt lane changes, brake pads being destroyed... it reminded me of Naples.

Oh, and to get back on topic, the DC area isn't smart, it's over-educated. Anyone can get a degree these days. And everyone here apparently does.
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Old 10-03-2010, 06:34 AM
 
Location: Virginia
18,717 posts, read 31,070,580 times
Reputation: 42988
Over educated? LOL, ok why not, I need to kill some time so I'll take the bait...

I don't think it's really possible to be over educated. It's healthy to be constantly learning new things. It keeps your brain stimulated and even helps stave off Alzheimers.

Right now I'm taking a class on Victorian American History. I don't have any practical use for this information, I just happen to enjoy learning about it. The way I see it, going to a class at night is a lot more fun than going to a bar or staying at home watching re-runs. If that makes me over educated, well at least I know I fit in with the rest of the people here!
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Old 10-03-2010, 07:25 AM
 
Location: Macao
16,257 posts, read 43,168,834 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by eyeball View Post
DC area isn't smart, it's over-educated. Anyone can get a degree these days. And everyone here apparently does.
I gotta agree with this. I have two MA degrees, and while some of the people in both programs were intensly interested about what we were studying, etc. Quite a few of them were just going through the motions, and complaining about any and all reading or challenging homework that might be given. Basically that by being admitted into the programs, they were entitled to pass without effort, complaining the entire way with any inconvenience beyond just attending the class.

Unfortunately, in this era...high school diplomas are practically worthless. Having a college degree is like having a high school diploma - almost worthless. If you want to do ANYTHING, you pretty much MUST go get your Masters degree. Now days, PhDs are becoming more and more of a joke as well. You can do them online without that student/professor mentorship that use to be the entire point of them. Plus most universities are financially hurting, so accepting almost anyone to anything is the order of the day...actual education being a secondary concern.

All that being said, gotta agree with Caladium in the value of taking classes and being interested in further education and knowledge.

Unfortunately, I don't particularly find that people's pieces of paper reflect their true intelligence/education AT ALL. I mean, in the two MA programs I was in, some of those people were lazier and about as uninterested as you possibly be about their respective programs. On the other hand, I know plenty of people who are incredibly intelligent and book smart and well-read, but have very little in the 'education' part of their resume to reflect that.
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Old 10-03-2010, 09:12 AM
 
Location: Virginia
18,717 posts, read 31,070,580 times
Reputation: 42988
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tiger Beer View Post
Plus most universities are financially hurting, so accepting almost anyone to anything is the order of the day.
Is that true? Things must have changed quite a bit from just three years ago. When my son was applying to colleges, his classmates were freaking out about SAT scores and having 4.0 averages much more than kids did when I was in high school. Not to mention a list of extra curricular activities that were simply done to get into college.

Back when I was in high school if you had a 3.5 you could get into at least half your choices (with a few ivy league exceptions). Not so anymore, AFAIK. Schools have gotten much pickier in recent years, in my observation.

Or maybe we're both right, maybe this recent pickiness is just happening in VA schools.
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Old 10-03-2010, 09:28 AM
 
8,983 posts, read 21,156,915 times
Reputation: 3807
Quote:
Originally Posted by Caladium View Post
Is that true? Things must have changed quite a bit from just three years ago. When my son was applying to colleges, his classmates were freaking out about SAT scores and having 4.0 averages much more than kids did when I was in high school. Not to mention a list of extra curricular activities that were simply done to get into college.

Back when I was in high school if you had a 3.5 you could get into at least half your choices (with a few ivy league exceptions). Not so anymore, AFAIK. Schools have gotten much pickier in recent years, in my observation.

Or maybe we're both right, maybe this recent pickiness is just happening in VA schools.
I think you and Tiger Beer are indeed both right.

IIUC correctly, Ivy Leagues and other schools that are considered to be among the "best" are more difficult to get into than ever. Even my alma mater, which may have been considered mid-tier when I graduated from there in the nineties, would have been a lot more difficult to get into today.

On the other hand, there are probably some schools that are either smaller, not as well-funded, or otherwise not so "fashionable" that may be struggling to attract students.

As far as the list is concerned, I see it as a win for all of NOVA.
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