Formal Education

[Flatlander]

Flatlander, your lack of a degree in no way inhibits your mental prowress.

Why, thank you for your kind words, Steve. :asian:

I wouldn't use mediocrity to describe your educational level. Some of the best educated men I've met never went past grade 12.

Yes, in fact, they and I went to separate schools together. Most of them are either my age, or older or younger.

 

[Dronak]

That's true. Your intelligence is independent of the degree you hold. I'm sure there are intelligent people without advanced degrees and some people with advanced degrees that make you wonder how they got them. If the job you want doesn't require a high level degree, there's no real reason for you to try to get one, is there? There's nothing wrong with that. Different people take different paths in life and spending a long time in formal schooling isn't best for everyone. So don't be so concerned about it.

BTW, since I'm writing, I might add a little comment, something people seem to miss/forget sometimes. Frequently, the higher the degree, the more specialized it is. High school basically finishes out your basic education requirements, knowing something about everything. When you move to college and a bachelors degree, you're doing almost the same thing, but picking one field to focus on. So your education is still pretty well-rounded. Moving on to grad school means more specialization. At the masters level, you're studying only one field and at the PhD level, you're studying only one small area of that field. So someone with a PhD still has a bachelors level knowledge in almost everything outside his/her main field of study. Sometimes I think people put PhDs higher than they really are. Yes, it takes a heck of a lot of work to reach that level, but it's a very specialized degree; the general knowledge of PhDs is still normally at a BS/BA level, just like many other people. FWIW.

 

[Colin_Linz]

As for me it was Vocational. I left school half way through year 12, this was a mutual decision between me and the Principle. I did my trade training in Automotive Engineering and worked in the Marine and Automotive industry as a mechanic until joining the Air Force. I did a number of training courses but not at degree level. I have a done many post trade courses, coaching courses in Martial Arts and Cycling, my Senior First Aid, cert 3 in Front Line Management and a cert4 in Workplace Training and Assessing. At the moment I am doing my Bachelor of Further Education and Training. It took me about 35 years to understand the value of education and to develop any desire to do any. It would be fair to say I’m a little slow.

 

[Chronuss]

with the networking and telecommunication field...employers want those years of experience and certifications, having degree is just icing on the cake to them. the only problem I'm having is that the school I attend does not offer any classes related to Cisco, and that's really hurting me. the only place I can get any training with Cisco and the protocols would be a local vocational school, which I'm definately going to have to look into. one of the other things I don't have any training with is DNS Zones, simply because our networking lab has no use of primary or secondary zones because we don't have multiple DNS servers to work with, not to mention the school is losing one of the best networking and CS professors they have.

 

[bignick]

That's too bad...my networking professor is the coolest guy ever. He definitely defies the norm of "specialized" PhD. Frickin' genius. He's a bit of a tree hugger too. At one point a while ago I guess he was working on really advanced routing and communication algorithms. Then he discovered what his research target was. It was to be used to for groups of missiles to intercommunicate and have almost a distributed AI so they could sacrifice an acceptable number of themselves while still delivering maximum payload to the target. He left that pretty quick and quietly went back to routing garbage trucks.

 

[mj-hi-yah]

Dan you are a PHD in my book! :idea: You are a real thinker, and therefore I dub you ~ Docta of the Study! I don't even really like going in there :anic: ...

 

[Chronuss]

That's too bad...my networking professor is the coolest guy ever.

so is Larry...unfortunately Shepherd is losing him to the University of Maryland and their security graduate program...he keeps teasing us about friggin' Tanenbaum and how he's going to torture them with that book. he's also the only CS professor that actually helps place students into jobs, with the count currently at 851 students placed since he's taught at Shepherd.

 

[Simon Curran]

I must say that I do agree with the folks who have stated that education and intelligence don't necessarily go hand in hand, there just seems to be a tendency to believe that a person with no education is automatically 'tick, altough I know people with no education who can fet around just about any problem, I would have thought that in itself represents a certain level of intelligence.

Conversly I also know of some highly educated people who struggle to tie their own shoe laces...

 

[mj-hi-yah]

I must say that I do agree with the folks who have stated that education and intelligence don't necessarily go hand in hand, there just seems to be a tendency to believe that a person with no education is automatically 'tick, altough I know people with no education who can fet around just about any problem, I would have thought that in itself represents a certain level of intelligence.

Conversly I also know of some highly educated people who struggle to tie their own shoe laces...

How do you define intelligence? Do you define it by success in terms of wealth, in terms of personal satisfaction, contribution to society, the ability to do the New York Times crossword puzzle? How important is having street smarts? How important are book smarts? What about communication skills? Who is to say which of these traits are more important? Does getting a formal education guarantee you success in life?



First there are no guarantees. Having a high IQ, or college degrees alone do not guarantee a person financial or other successes in life. Some of the people that I know that I consider to be the most intelligent never went to college, maybe because they saw a path that suited them better and brought them personal success in a more efficient way. Some highly creative thinkers find formal schooling limiting, boring and stifling of their ability to engage in divergent thought. I know a person who is extremely interesting, a fantastic musician, a master chess player; self taught computer wiz and world traveler who can converse on almost any topic. He never went to college, keeps little in terms of material goods and lives a relatively simple but very happy life with very few hassles, maybe he's the smartest! I have two relatives who are filthy rich, and neither one went to college. If you define intelligence by financial success and business savvy, they win in my book. I have another relative who has an enviable photographic memory, is involved in neuroscience and is a lifetime student with more initials after her name than can fit on a business card. I consider her to be highly intelligent in terms of "book smarts" and she has made very valuable contributions to society, but yet is very lacking in common sense. For example, she lives on a busy road and has had two cats die because they were run over by cars, yet can't understand why her last cat escaped from her yard because she told me, "But I put a fence around the yard!" I mean HELLO! :uhyeah: *giggle* I know a doctor (scientist) who is a specialist in terms of reading and diagnosing cancer from slides. He is very financially successful, but so painfully lacking in communication skills and is so introverted that it is painful for him to carry on a conversation with anyone, unless it concerns his area of expertise and even then it's a struggle. I would say he is socially limited. It's hard to measure even if he is really happy or not.



So to me formal education can be a vehicle through which people can enhance their ability to get good paying jobs, and may serve them well in terms of intellectual stimulation and job satisfaction, and all this may lead to personal satisfaction, but it is not a guarantee of happiness, and may not serve as well as having common sense and good people skills. Just because a person is not formally educated does not make them any less intelligent or valuable, and in some cases it may be a sign of great/greater intelligence. :asian:

 

[Mark L]

BS, MS in Elec. Engineering.

 

[KenpoTex]

B.S. in Criminal Justice with some extra misc. credits for Psych. and pre-law (was going to double major/double minor/whatever, before I got sick of college).

 

[TonyM.]

B.S. Human services, psycology minor. Certificates in production, motion and time study and Delivering the Human services.
Now you know why you can comfide in your bartender.

 

[Simon Curran]

B.S. Human services, psycology minor. Certificates in production, motion and time study and Delivering the Human services.
Now you know why you can comfide in your bartender.

:roflmao:

 

[Makalakumu]

I started college in 1995 and couldn't decide what I wanted to do, so I did everything. Ten years and thousands of dollars later...

Minor - Creative Writing (2000)
BS - Biology (2000)
BS - Geology (2001)
Minor - Chemistry (2001)
Minor - Physics (2001)
BS - Physics (Finished last summer 2004)
MS - Education (Just finished my thesis 2005)

Phd - Geology? - In a few years, I'll jump into this...

I have always been good at school and I have always liked learning. I need to wait until my children are older before I can tackle any more school. Having two babies and working on a Physics and Master's degree at the same time has been a little difficult...

:whip: :xtrmshock :mrtoilet: :fanboy: :uhohh: :wah: :anic: :idea: :erg: :waah: :duel: :drinkbeer :idunno:

All of the above at the very same time pretty much sums it up...

upnorthkyosa

 

[dubljay]

Currently working on my bachelors degree in Mechanical Engineering and considering a minor in math.

 

[rainbows]

In my third year of a BSc in mathematical physics, and hating it. Switching to a BSc computer science program in September, I'll go into the 2nd year of that. I have no idea what I want to do when I leave college, apart from lots of TKD.

 

[Shodan]

I have a Bachelor's degree in Child Development and minors in Family Relations and Psychology.

 

[TimoS]

I guess my educational equivalent would be B.Sc. I "specialized" in telecommunications, although for us the "specialization" was two or three different courses over a four year period. I have worked with mobile networks almost ever since, although now I'm working more closely with mobiles (and trying desparately to find a new job, because this stuff is not for somebody with 10+ years of experience)

 

[Ender]

BS in Electrical Engineering
minor in Architecture

Masters in Business Administration

Realtor's License

Currently working on a CFP (Certificate in Financial Planning)