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What is your level of formal education?

I have completed the following formal educations

  • None or very little

    Votes: 2 2.6%
  • Attended school, but did not graduate

    Votes: 1 1.3%
  • GED or graduated from high school

    Votes: 18 23.7%
  • Some college

    Votes: 17 22.4%
  • 2 year college degree

    Votes: 15 19.7%
  • 4 year college degree

    Votes: 26 34.2%
  • formal education based technical degree/certification

    Votes: 15 19.7%
  • Military or other past-high school degree

    Votes: 10 13.2%
  • Lawyer, doctor, other high education degree

    Votes: 5 6.6%
  • Masters/PhD

    Votes: 27 35.5%

  • Total voters
    76
I earned my 4 year BS in molecular biology, I'm currently about to start P2 year working towards my Doctor of Pharmacy (Pharm.D.) degree.
 
There are all sorts of "smarts" and tremendous talents. Sometimes, I think, those who aren't degreed unnecessarily feel "lesser than," and sometimes those who are degreed falsely feel superior.

I think everybody who's finished, as we say, in his or her respective field, will acknowledge that some of the "best and brightest" weren't the ones who finished. Every grad program and law class has one of those. And some of the most brilliant, accomplished, erudite people I've ever known never finished high school.

And some of the multi-degreed folks I know are dumb. Great at what they do, obviously, but scary-dumb and every bit as dysfunctional as everybody else with really messy lives.
 
There are all sorts of "smarts" and tremendous talents. Sometimes, I think, those who aren't degreed unnecessarily feel "lesser than," and sometimes those who are degreed falsely feel superior.

I think everybody who's finished, as we say, in his or her respective field, will acknowledge that some of the "best and brightest" weren't the ones who finished. Every grad program and law class has one of those. And some of the most brilliant, accomplished, erudite people I've ever known never finished high school.

And some of the multi-degreed folks I know are dumb. Great at what they do, obviously, but scary-dumb and every bit as dysfunctional as everybody else with really messy lives.

All too often, a formal education is mistaken for intelligence.

Degrees are merely a tool used to indicate to others that you have received a certain kind of education. You could learn all of the same information on your own, but without that piece of paper, proving it is significantly more difficult, and often you cannot receive licenses and such in order to practice that which you have learned.
 
All too often, a formal education is mistaken for intelligence.

Degrees are merely a tool used to indicate to others that you have received a certain kind of education. You could learn all of the same information on your own, but without that piece of paper, proving it is significantly more difficult, and often you cannot receive licenses and such in order to practice that which you have learned.

Correct. And I'd say the same for certifications. The more training an EMS or firefighter, for example, has, the better.

I'd also say that there are many types of education. What we're talking about here are formalized academic credentials. Must-haves in some fields, including mine.

But my real point is that it's now August, and where I live it's hotter than hell. If my a/c system fails, I say that the technician who pulls into the driveway and solves the problem is a god among men!
 
I was a technical student, learned to repair trucks and tractors. Then I studied psychology for 5 years walked away from a masters program because I prefer to work for money verses academic recognition. Then I attended police academy, learned more about humanity in four months than in the years I studied psychology.
 
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