How much formal education do you have?

[leftyclimber]

A comment in http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=5043531&mesg_id=5043531">this thread got me to wondering: relative to other discussion boards, there seems to be a rather large proportion of DUers with postgraduate education. (Not to mention a rather large proportion of DUers with considerable self-education, regardless of how much paper there is behind it.)

Which one of these options best describes the highest level of education you completed? No judgment on how much school you went to is intended -- I'm just curious how much time people spent in the dark satanic mills. :evilgrin:

[customerserviceguy]

1. Why did you forget associate's degree?

Not everybody who went to community college is working on a bachelor's degree.

[NMDemDist2]

3. and the 'some college' choice n/t

[leftyclimber]

5. Not enough option slots.

My SO has an AS -- I didn't forget you. :hi:

If I deleted "hard knocks" I could throw it in. Would that work?

[kentauros]

19. Originally, I got an AS

but that wasn't enough for getting a job, so I went for a BA. Now I'm doing the work that my AS covered

[leftyclimber]

7. I added an "other."

I'd need about 25 slots to get every possibility in there and we only get 10. This way people can add the various permutations that weren't available due to lack of slot-age.

:hi:

[customerserviceguy]

13. Thanks, I checked "other"

since I'm not planning to get anything beyond my near-useless community college associates degree, that I picked up in my late 40's.

Young folks, if there's any advice I can give you,it would be to get your schooling done before you try to take on anything else in life, such as marriage or parenthood, or even a career. It's tough to go back once you've gotten off the track, and people tend to pigeonhole you into whatever work experience you've had.

[louis c]

127. Associate Degree for me

Just graduated in 2006 at the age of 54.

[MercutioATC]

2. Other. Some college.

...but I'm not working on finishing my BA.

[eShirl]

9. same here.

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

4. HS Diploma Via Social Promotion. Yet I'm More Educated And Have Broader Knowledge Than Anyone With

a degree that I know.

Course, that's why to me degrees are only worthy of wiping my ass with.

[rateyes]

15. Spoken like a man who never bothered to find out the true value

of a college education. It sounds like you have an overly high opinion of yourself, (more educated and broader knowledge than anyone with a degree that you know?? Riiiiight. You are smarter than all the college educated people you know...Uh huh.) and an overly low opinion of people with those degrees.

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

27. Get Over Yourself.

Not an overly high opinion of myself whatsoever. Just stating a simple fact. And yes, anyone I personally know with a degree I run circles around when it comes to overall knowledge and capability. And no, I don't have a low opinion whatsoever of people with degrees. My opinion of them is based on their individual merits. The point is that their degree is irrelevant as it relates to their capability and overall intellect.

Anyone can study and memorize through repetition enough to pass the exams necessary to get a degree. What matters is how much they retain a year later; 5 years later; 10 years later. Many people I know with degrees wouldn't come close to passing the same tests again right now if the tests were placed under their nose at this very moment.

Degrees overall mean very little as it relates to how knowledgeable one actually is.

[rateyes]

39. Tell that to your lawyer or doctor next time you need one of them.

Tell a nurse how useless degrees are, and how much they have forgotten since they entered the field. Tell a school teacher working with children, some of whom have disabilities that they have forgotten how to modify a lesson plan for a child with an Autistic Spectrum Disorder, such as Asperger's syndrome. Tell that to an aviation, chemical, or mechanical engineer. Tell them that their degree is "irrelevant," and not worth anything more than the toilet paper with which you "wipe your ass."

[SmileyRose]

131. The best mechanical engineer I've seen has no college at all.

We employ 2 mechanical engineers. One of ours never graduated from HS let alone college. He's in his late 60's and has worked for us for over 20 years. He can and does out work and out think most of his younger counterparts, who get hired, stay a few years and move on.

[demokatgurrl]

50. I agree. As someone with TWO advaced degrees...

I can only say, about my own degrees, BFD. I enjoyed school, so I kept going. I'd go back again if I didn't have to make a living. I'm a lazy bum.


Unfortunatley, a bachelor's degree has become a requirement (often completely irrelevant and unnecessary) for some employers to hire anyone. So you can go to college for 4 years and get out and make as much as, or less than, someone who went to a technical school and actually learned how to DO something.

Degrees are fine, smarts are something else.

[AyanEva]

67. My BA has been extremely helpful

and I've been able to put what I learned to practical use. I don't even actually work in the field that my degree is in, meaning the information is versatile enough to be used in many, many situations. It's definitely given me an advantage. Not just in terms of practical knowledge but in things like organizational skills, different methods to learn information in the most efficient manner, the most effective way to interact with different kinds of people and anticipate any future behavior or thought patterns, research and writing skills, time management... I could go on.

My point being that getting my BA has been useful for me, has given me an advantage over my peers in many situations, and was definitely worth it.

ETA: I should add that I do know people who have degrees and are still dumb as bricks. I work in adult education and so many people who come through are some of the smartest people I know, despite not having a HS diploma or GED. So you're half right but I don't think you can apply that view to everyone with a degree.

[Evoman]

80. "Anyone can study and memorize through repetition enough to pass the exams necessary to get a degree

How do you know this? Have you written college level exams?

I mean, it's not like you just sit around and write tests with multiple choice and fill in the blanks. There are research papers, essay exams, reports. Some classes even have marks based on the sophistication of your responses in class participation. Not to mention that once you hit the masters and doctorate level....whole new ballgame.

Maybe schools in the states are different but not everyone can do it. It depends on the degree and it depends on the subject. By the time I got into 4th year genetics or virology, there weren't a whole lot of idiots sitting in my class.

[RadicalTexan]

96. I have a master's degree and I agree wholeheartedly

I think it's mostly a racket.

[lumberjack_jeff]

30. Value? $30,212.50. Worth? Worth about as much as a library card.

I can't help myself. I'm drawn to school-snobbery threads like a moth to a flame.

[rateyes]

43. You are confusing "price" with "value." Value and worth are the

same thing. It may cost $30,000 for a college education and degree. And, if you are only speaking in terms of "money," you forget that, ON AVERAGE, a person with a college degree makes much more money than one without a degree. A person with a Master's makes more than one with only a Bachelor's, and a person with a doctorate makes more than one with a Masters.

Plus, when speaking of value, one must not forget the intangibles.

[lumberjack_jeff]

53. This thread is not about earning capacity.

It is an attempt to demonstrate our rhetorical and intellectual superiority by virtue of our aggregate education levels.

I'm extremely cynical about college, and I'm especially cynical when people use education as a proxy for wisdom or intelligence.

[leftyclimber]

57. Uh, no.

It's not.

I was just curious how much time people had spent going to school, as someone had posted about doing their dissertation about DU. I don't consider education a proxy for how smart people are, by any stretch. Some of the dumbest people I have ever met have advanced degrees.

[lumberjack_jeff]

100. Thanks. I take what you say at face value.

But I'm sceptical that anyone who has been here any length of time would be unaware that the dog whistle, when blown, attracts dogs.

[leftyclimber]

103. Always true on the intertubes.

You can't pick who responds or how, but I'm too curious to avoid asking questions, regardless. :hi:

[rateyes]

60. You replied to my reply to another poster who said degrees

were only worth the toilet paper with which to "wipe his ass." I never said that "education" is "a proxy for wisdom or intelligence." I only argued that the cynicism that the poster (and you) has about college and graduate school degrees is misplaced. "Snobbery," when it comes to this subject, cuts two ways. A person with "wisdom and intelligence" would understand the "wisdom" of getting a college degree in the world in which we live, and a person's "intelligence" is not diminished, but enhanced by getting that degree. College, as some would like to claim otherwise, does not make one stupid. Neither does it mean one lacks common sense. Neither does it mean that one's "knowledge" is limited to one's chosen field of study---as the poster implied.

[Evoman]

72. Very good point. Apart from monetary considerations, intelligent people have a lot to gain from

college. It really is what you make of it.

I see some "reverse snobbery" in this thread, and I don't like it. A college degree is not worthless...there is a lot you can learn formally and informally at college. It's been found, for example, that people who go to college tend to lose a lot of their racist and sexist beliefs by being exposed to a large number of different groups of people.

[AyanEva]

84. This is oh so true.

It's not just facts and figures that you learn. College helped to reshape my political, social, and economic beliefs because I was exposed to new material and new ways of thinking. That wouldn't have happened if I hadn't gone.

[lumberjack_jeff]

93. I wouldn't describe college the way OMC did.

... if for no other reason than I'm putting a kid through school right now.

I simply think that attempting to infer a group's intellectual fitness by virtue of the diplomas on the wall is ludicrous.

George Bush has more education than 90% of DU'ers. This observation is either a disparagement of "education" or DU'ers. In general, I hold DU'ers in fairly high regard.

College doesn't make one stupid. It just makes them disinclined to trust knowledge that wasn't purchased. A tweed jacket with patches on the elbows would not have made the old farmer who introduced me to forestry, agriculture, electrical wiring, mechanics and Descartes any more wise.

A person with "wisdom and intelligence" understands the value of a college degree; it enables the resume scanning software to check off the appropriate box to help risk-averse HR managers decide who is worth their interview time. Beyond that? Not much.

It pays to get the piece of paper as cheaply as possible, but I wouldn't use it for toilet paper, it looks too cool and a lot of people are impressed by it.

[ifuseekamy]

145. Hey...I'm not mad atcha...I went back to school in my 30s and finally got that BA

The idea of going to work at Starbuck's whilst almost $20,000 in student loan debt is a bit effed up to me, but I happened to graduate at an "interesting time."

[Warpy]

20. There's some truth to that

although as an audtodidact in areas outside my field(s) I am all too aware that there have been wide gaps in my reading and understanding.

My own background is 2 years of engineering, one year of "don't give a crap" wherein I signed up for high level courses along with the prereq survey courses and then dropped the latter, and nursing school when I got sick of starving and needed a meal ticket.

The dumbest people I know drifted through 4 years of college and into middle management and haven't read anything more substantial than People Magazine since they got out of school.

They're GOP, of course.

[Greyhound]

26. LOL!

Explaining so much in so many ways...
:rofl:

[greendog]

56. A friend of mine has his framed diploma (BA) hanging in his outhouse.

A thought:

You should compile your vast knowledge and experience and publish an OMC-pedia.

Have it printed on toilet paper.

A giant Cosco sized case of TP could contain one volume of OMC-pedia. It'd probably take 30 - 40 volumes to cover everything. Degreed folks would be able to complete their remedial re-education in their "spare time".

You'd be a hero. You'd be rich.

You'd probably find a lot of buyers for OMC-pedia right here on DU. :evilgrin:

[Evoman]

68. What is an HS diploma via social promotion?

I'm curious..I've never heard the term.

[Ichingcarpenter]

74. social promotion- wikipedia

Social promotion is the practice of promoting a student (usually a general education student, rather than a special education student) to the next grade despite their low achievement in order to keep them with social peers. It is sometimes referred to as promotion based on seat time. Advocates of social promotion argue that promotion is done so as not to harm the students' self-esteem, to keep students together by age (together with their age cohort), to facilitate student involvement in sports teams, and to allow a student who is strong in one area, but weak in another, to advance further in the strong area.

In Canada and the United States, social promotion is normally limited to Kindergarten through eighth grades, because comprehensive high schools are more flexible about determining which level of students take which classes, which makes the concept of social promotion much less meaningful.

The opposite, to "hold back" a student with poor grades, is called grade retention. Other options include after-school tutoring or summer school.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_promotion

[Evoman]

75. Thanks.

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

90. In My Case It Was Cause They Wanted Me The Fuck Out Of The School LOL

They hated me. Told me they'd graduate me but I was never allowed to step foot on school property again hehehe

[Flubadubya]

111. They hated you?

Lordy, I just can't imagine why! :shrug: :evilgrin:

[jpak]

71. LOL!!!!1111

dumbest post ever

:rofl:

:rofl:

:rofl:

[Ikonoklast]

104. But it certainly explains a lot about the poster.

I understand where he comes from now.

He's the smartest person he knows.

Small circle of friends.

[KamaAina]

102. You do mean "anyone with a degree that I know *personally*", right?

'cause most people here seem to have degrees. :-)

[Dreamer Tatum]

129. You should look into meeting a few more people, then

There is nothing more insufferable than someone who nurtures their insecurities by tearing other people down.

Which is a shame, because I usually like your posts.

[Bill McBlueState]

135. I would have said that, too, if I had stopped going to school after high school

It took graduate school to convince me that Homer Simpson was right: "No matter how good you are at something, there's always about a million people better than you."

[Runcible Spoon]

137. *snicker*

certainly explains a lot.

On edit for anyone who wants to accuse me of elitism: I certainly don't think a degree guarantees intelligence, or that someone without a degree is stupid de facto, but for someone to go around with THIS attitude and shitting all over those who spent a large chunk of their lives studying something they are passionate about is ridiculous. A BA is one thing but I never met a stupid person in my PhD program. The only things this poster has in any abundance are rudeness and condescension; his lofty sense of self-worth and inflated ego are certainly NOT justified but his demonstration of superior intellect and logical reasoning. Quite the contrary. Sadly, he feels he has to go out of his way to reinforce the perception that those without degrees are ignorant assholes.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

143. it shows. nt

[JDPriestly]

6. I kicked this. I'm curious about the results. Interesting question,

but you should also ask who has a professional degree such as an M.D. or a J.D. A number of doctors and lawyers post here, and some people have more than one such graduate or post-graduate degree.

[leftyclimber]

8. As noted above

there are only 10 slots available for a poll. I changed the last choice to "Other" so people can add "some school," Associates' degrees, first professional degrees, multiple degrees, and so on.

[liberal N proud]

10. Interesting poll

Let's see what the mind of DU is made of.

[Captain Hilts]

11. Juuuuuuuust finishing the dissertation.

One BA, two MAs.

Being 'schooled' is different from being 'educated'.

[leftyclimber]

12. What are you dissertating about?

Mine is (will be) on public participation and trust-building in federal land management agencies. Data collection begins in April, assuming I survive comps.

Congrats on finishing! Let us know when you defend.

[Captain Hilts]

31. Interesting! What's your time frame?

I follow those policies in the '30s.

Mine's about the politics of unemployment in the Soviet Union and immediate post-Soviet Russia. It's a real page turner!

[leftyclimber]

34. I hope to defend in Spring '10.

Yours sounds intriguing, as well. Some days I wish I could get a degree in just about everything, because there's so much out there to learn about...

[Captain Hilts]

36. What time frame are you studying?

I was supposed to defend this spring, but life events have gotten in the way.

[leftyclimber]

I'm studying "now." :)

I'm going to be evaluating a couple of participatory planning methods in real time. Mixed methods (pre-post testing, participant-observation, and qualitative interviews). It's super-applied stuff, with the intent of helping land managers find ways to work successfully with the public and (hopefully) develop relationships with stakeholders.

Life events can definitely goof up the defense date. Better to get life taken care of and defend when things are going well than to try to shove everything in all at once. Good luck to you!

[no_hypocrisy]

14. Nine years of college.

Four years BA Liberal Arts
Two years MA Early Childhood & Elementary Education
Three years law school (J.D.)

Seventeen years since I was in a classroom and I'd go back in a minute.

[Captain Hilts]

32. Interesting combination! Good on you!

[Arkansas Granny]

16. Other - Associates Degree.

[Ohio Joe]

17. Other

After high school I went to a technical school.

[Inchworm]

18. Associates

Would LOVE to be working on Bachelor's but my transcripts are being held for ransom.

Catch-22

:grr:

[SoxFan]

21. Other

Juris Doctorate, aka law degree, with a few graduate level courses in urban studies.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

40. Juris Doctor

That's the degree we got when we graduated from law school, not Juris Doctorate.

Graduate schools regard a J.D. as equivalent to a Master's when you're applying. I found that out when a friend decided to pursue a doctorate in clinical psych and thereafter leave our law firm.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

97. Thank you for correcting that, Tangerine.

I did not know that a J.D. is equivalent to a Master's. It should count for 1 and one half Master's, since a Master's is 60 semester hours and a J.D. is ninety hours. And I thought a J.D. was about three times as hard as my college classes.

My B.A. in Biology and my J.D. have done NOTHING to help me get a job. The only degree I had that was useful was the vocational degree in court reporting. However, court reporting is an incredibly stressful job due to nasty, vicious judges and lawyers. I think the entire legal profession is highly stressful due to the circus of fighting opposing counsel that litigation has become. I can't go back to it because of high blood pressure and a general inability to tolerate the stress after many years.

I made C's in law school but I have a better fundamental understanding of the law than the people who made A's, because of working at the courthouse for years, seeing trials, and being a legal secretary before that. I typed for my father, who was an attorney who went to law school on the GI Bill after World War II.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

106. The legal profession isn't what it once was

And, honestly, I ascribe a lot of its deterioration to the advertising that turned an honorable profession into a competitive industry.

I am old enough to remember when deals were sealed with a handshake, and it was all honored. I loved my work when I knew I'd be having a drink with opposing counsel after we settled the case, with our clients getting as much of what they both wanted as possible.

We all went to each other's weddings, and, as the years went by, served as godparents, represented each other in divorces, went again to weddings, went to the kids' weddings.

I cherish the times when we lawyers gathered at the courthouse, waiting to hear that a particularly reprehensible judge had died. And, after his funeral, a day of drinking and celebrating, ending up with me shepherding my brothers in the law to the cemetery where the judge had been interred so that they could take a leak on his grave.

I had to restrain my pal Phil when he decided that we had to dig the judge up just to make sure he was dead.

We got a lot done back then because we worked hard and respected each other, respected the law, respected what we did for a living.

It's all changed now. If I were starting out today, I know I wouldn't make it.

By the way, don't forget the old law school adage: The A students become law professors, the B students become judges, and the C students become millionaires.

There's still hope - hang in there. You'll find your way. Don't let them get to you.

I wish you luck, my friend.

:toast:

[Manifestor_of_Light]

118. Thank you.

I remember when law was a gentlemanly game, as well. My dad graduated in 1951. By the time I started court reporting in the 70s, it was still civil, but in the 80s it got completely insane. Dad's theory was that the first women who were practicing law had to be more macho than the guys to be accepted into the old boys' club. This may well be true.

I graduated in '85 and have been unable to pass the bar. Law is not my true love, though. My true love is music and art.

Those celebrations at the passing of the evil judges sounds like a blast!!

Dad said about some of those bastards, "Every lawyer in town is gonna be at his funeral to make sure he's dead!". :rofl:

One woman judge who slandered me in a judges' meeting and is a huge backstabber is now our elected DA in Harris County. Everyone hates her.

She'll do something to stumble that she cannot hide, eventually.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

133. As a woman who would never

have been admitted to law school had it not been for Affirmative Action (my freshman law school class had 50 women in a class of 150; the year before, there had been 3 women out of 150), I think your Dad has a specific take on the matter, but I've encountered my share of attorneys, male and female, who behaved badly.

After thirty-plus years of practice, I became a novelist, and have been awfully lucky in that field (which turns out to be much more devious than the law - who would have guessed?). I don't miss the law at all, but I still love what I learned during those years, and I'll be forever grateful for my Jesuit teachers, who made a lawyer out of me in more ways than simply getting a license.

A lot of folks never get past the Bar exam, and, for what it's worth, don't you find that your education is an asset to you in so many other areas of your life?

As for that woman who's now the DA, well, keep in mind my old Italian grandmother's admonition (which made its way, in the original Italian, into my first novel) - "You spit up in the air, it lands in your face."

[Manifestor_of_Light]

136. Yes, a law degree is a wonderful education.

It's very broad and you get information about a lot of useful things.

I think when Dad said that the first women lawyers had to be extremely macho, I think he was saying that that sort of behavior made it so that all lawyers had to be macho and nasty. I can see his point. When I was going thru a pretty horrible divorce, I found that most lawyers would talk tough, and then roll over and play dead. They didn't know when to be nice, and when to be mean.

Or maybe it's that our whole society is sick, and we are supposed to work ourselves into exhaustion and illness. Working long hours, even if you ruin your health and lose your sanity, is held to be an unquestioned good. And bullying co-workers and subordinates is accepted, and considered to be a good way to get promoted. If you get sick, or start crying because somebody has attacked you, well, then you are "too sensitive".

One of my court reporter friends worked herself to death from respiratory failure. She was barely 40. She worked hard, her judge worked hard. This was a felony court where they had to hire another judge and court staff to hear the regular docket when they had to pick a capital murder jury.

I worked myself into exhaustion and chronic illness twenty years ago. No thanks.

Being a novelist must be quite interesting. :D

[Mr_leftyclimber]

22. Associates Degree

:hi:

[tekisui]

23. In school now, a year and a half from completing my first Bachelor's Degree.

I have an Associate's.

[Greyhound]

24. BS + ~100 hours in other majors. n/t

[CaliforniaPeggy]

25. My dear leftyclimber!

Bachelor's degree here...

And then I went back for nursing, and got a couple of AS degrees...one as an LVN, and the second for the RN...

Glad I'm done!

*whew*

:hi:

[haydukelives]

33. Me too

Well no Bachelors
I got my ADN when I was 50

[bdamomma]

28. went to college acquired a secretarial certificate.

[RadicalTexan]

101. Ding, ding, ding

Me, too.

$50,000 and ten years later, I'm earning just above $30K as a secretary.

[sinkingfeeling]

29. Two years of college and 2000 hours of technical and management training from one of the

largest computer manufacturers/software developers in the world.

[a la izquierda]

35. Getting my PhD in history

only a year to go. Woo hoo!

[SidneyCarton]

108. Me too! What are you studying.

I'm just getting started in Grad School and want to study the paramilitary groups in the Weimar Republic.

[a la izquierda]

114. I study indigenous groups in Latin America

in the 19th and 20th centuries. Dissertation is on a small indigenous group in Mexico, which is where I'm at now, doing research.

I also study political violence and women's movements. Yeah, it's depressing as hell...

I know nothing about the Weimar Republic, except that Weimaraners come from there. Hehehe. Where do you go to school?

[SidneyCarton]

115. UC Riverside

The Weimar Republic is the name given by historians to the republican government of Germany between 1918-1933. It was so-called because the constitution (which was far more liberal than our own) was written in the University town of Weimar.

[a la izquierda]

116. Well, we almost would have been colleagues.

I was admitted to UC Riverside. I chose the University of Oklahoma, because at the time, I was studying Native North America...and my adviser would have been a better fit. Weird.
Well, good luck with your studies. It's a tough slog. As it stands right now, I'm plowing through 113 pages of San Francisco Bulletins from 1850-1910. Joy (at least they're in English!!)
:toast:

[pipi_k]

37. Does business school count?

I checked "other" because I have a HS diploma, did some college (but didn't graduate) toward an AS in Law Enforcement, then went on to a Business School for some data entry and limited computer programming.

Everything else I've learned in life has come from reading, reading, reading.

Oh... and lots of practice.

;)

[leftyclimber]

44. Absolutely.

My mom went to business school. :hi:

Most of my family are/were loggers and millworkers, and most of my in-laws are truck drivers. I'm the family weirdo. :crazy:

[tilsammans]

38. Associates degree, art school diploma, School of Life . . .

The latter being the most important of all. :)

[leftyclimber]

47. Indeed!

Book-smart and life-dumb is not a good way to go through life. And there are plenty of folks in the world who fit that description..... :)

[Tangerine LaBamba]

41. You should have a "Professional School" category

For the lawyers and physicians among us.

Dentists.

[leftyclimber]

42. Not enough slots for everyone.

There are only 10 available. I should also have had all of the "some (whatever level of education)," Associate's degree, technical certificate, GED, and a panoply of other options.

Hence "other." :hi:

[Tangerine LaBamba]

81. I didn't know there was a limit

OK, gotcha.

Screw the dentists. They shouldn't be hanging out on DU when there are people with toothaches out there, dammit.

:hi:

[SoxFan]

54. Agree

A law degree falls in a weird gray area between a masters and a doctorate. Making things even more confusing, you can pursue advanced studies in a specialized field of law (eg, agricultural law, tax law, intellectual property) and receive a Masters of Law, or LLM.

And we wonder why people hate those of us in the legal profession!

[Tangerine LaBamba]

82. They don't hate me

They love me.

I hold the deeds to their homes.

:hi:

[question everything]

45. There have been several official surveys

some that Skinner asked DUers to participate

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=389&topic_id=1153966

http://www.quantcast.com/democraticunderground.com

[Dervill Crow]

46. High school and business school. eom

[Strong Atheist]

48. Did the B.S. Then added more S. Never did the

piled higher and deeper...



Edited for grammar.

[AyanEva]

49. Bachelor's in Psychology

But I'm applying to a Clinical Counseling Psychology Master's program at the moment.

[WhaTHellsgoingonhere]

51. in this order

bachelor's 1988
PhD dropout 1989 (illness)
MA dropout 1990 (illness)
associates 2000 (career change #1)
currently trade school student (career change #2)

[leftyclimber]

52. I've strongly considered getting a welding certificate as a backup

for my advanced degree. I figure there will always be a need for welders. :)

[Bozita]

58. I know an elementary teacher who later got an assoc degree in auto mechanics

She was pissed at the folks who were repairing her car. Felt she could do better herself.

[WhaTHellsgoingonhere]

83. I'm working on HVACR certification

:)

My B.S. is in Economics, and I had been working in financial reporting. The field was never a good fit. Typical refrain: the health benefits were essential and the money was good enough to keep me there. Then I got laid-off at the end of 2007. While I search for new, crap job in the same, stagnating industry, I took time to figure out what I'd rather do. I started with "green jobs" and saw that retrofitting buildings, supermarkets and restaurants would be a growth industry.

[lumberjack_jeff]

107. I used to do contract work for a guy who had a couple of companies

I did steel detailing for him.

Company a was a full-service engineering firm. They did mostly hvac, but some structural and mechanical.

Company b was a steel fabricating business. As you might suspect, most of the employees were welders.

He staffed his engineering company with kids hired straight out of the local college at about $15/hour, expecting to keep them for a few months. They were completely expendable and replaceable.

His welders, on the other hand were paid $30+ an hour, and were given anything they wanted to keep them around. He even fired his general manager because the GM annoyed the senior welder.

With the exception of the girl his wife caught him messing around with, I doubt he ever learned the names of any of the engineers.

I think welding would be good, unless they want me to walk around on top of that tall shit. :yoiks:

[leftyclimber]

123. My SO does structural steel detailing.

Me, I'm OK with the walking around on tall stuff part(see my screen name). From what I understand, you get paid extra for that. :)

[lumberjack_jeff]

126. You can have the "extra".

I'll stay safely on the ground and pass stuff up to you. :)

[Stinky The Clown]

55. I answered "Master's" but that is technically a lie .....

I have two degrees that required more education than would a degree and a follow-on Master's.

[yorgatron]

59. this poll is as useless as an IQ test.

i know people that i can only describe as artists,because of the scope and variety of the work they do,and many of you would call them functionally illiterate.

[Captain Hilts]

77. Because of the way we are schooled, the parameters of what are considered 'educated'...

are VERY limited in scope.

I completely agree with you. That's actually why I've been a good graduate student, but lousy high school and undergraduate student.

[leftyclimber]

79. I'm on side as well.

Which is why I said "formal" education. There are other kinds of education, and going to school does not mean you are smart.

[Captain Hilts]

87. Yes. I'm surprised we haven't gotten more listings like "Nuke school" Navy, Electronics "A" school,

and so forth.

[slampoet]

125. Exactly. Does an RN or a MD check PHD? Does a Master Brewer check a Double PHD?

There are a LOT of professions that require Formal education that isn't performed in formal educational institutions.

A 10-15 year apprenticeship is often MORE formal in nature compared to college but somehow this isn't given "formal education" status even though the job DOES award a degree such as Master Plumber, Master Brewer or Vintner, Pilot, Boat Captain.

People also seem to forget that until VERY recently in this country you could become a lawyer WITHOUT going to school. Instead all you needed to do was apprentice for a law practice and then have them recommend you for taking the Bar Exam. There are probably dozens of attorney practicing who are old enough to have done this.

[boobooday]

61. I think what is amazing here

Is how well read and how well-informed the participants are, regardless of formal education.

I didn't begin my college education until I was 25, but I started reading the LA Times as a welfare mother in Los Angeles in the 80's. A solid K-12 public education meant that just engaging with current events led me to understand a great deal about our political situation, and to compare reality with the ideal of a just and democratic society. I'll never forget weeping as I pulled the lever in 1988. On my way to the polls I heard on the radio that Bush had already won. I voted anyway, completely distraught. These experiences led me to seek even more education.

I believe this is what is behind the neglect of that very same public education system that taught me democratic values. It was originally meant to create engaged citizens who were capable and motivated to participate in the political process. Some people didn't, and still don't think that is a good thing at all.

We really need to push the narrative that to be anti public education is anti-American, much more so than being anti-war.

[leftyclimber]

64. I agree entirely.

And I'm sorry if I wasn't clear enough about that in my OP. I have been coming here to learn for quite some time. I don't use level of formal education as a litmus test for the validity or intelligence of people's posts (or IRL, for that matter).

I'm consistently impressed by the curiosity, intelligence, and wisdom of DUers. It gives me hope.

[boobooday]

69. I didn't see it as a litmus test at all

I am curious as well. I too had a feeling there were many here with formal education, but that intelligent people of all educational backgrounds are attracted to DU for interesting conversation.

I appreciated the poll. :-)

[david13]

62. School of Hard Knocks, PhD, and advanced degree

[Captain Hilts]

88. My resume is like that. It's pretty weird!

[kentuck]

63. Can we count "informal education"

Because a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, I must be a very dangerous man. :-)

I am educated from the poverty of Appalachia and the stories of coal miners. I am educated from the stories of my parents and grandparents that went thru the Depression in the poorest part of our nation. I am educated by two tours in Vietnam and the lies of our government. I am educated by many menial jobs throughout my "career". Does any of that count?

[leftyclimber]

65. Absolutely!

I hail from a long line of loggers and lumber mill workers. They are some of the wisest people I have ever met. :)

[Evoman]

66. I have a BSc in Biochemistry and a Masters in Biology (concentration in Genetics/Evolution).

I'm not snobby about my degree and I don't think it makes me smarter than others.

However, I will say this: there are a lot of people who don't have a formal education who think they now about the subject I studied for the past 6 years better than I do (evolution). They don't, and when they try to argue with me or "come up with theories" that clearly show a lack of knowledge, it sort of frustrates me how easily they dismiss my "formal education".

On edit: Actually, there may very well be people who don't have a formal education who know more about evolution or genetics than I do...I'm not saying there isn't. I'm just saying I have never met any.

[Hepburn]

70. I chose Ph.D., but my doctorate is a juris doctorate ~~ law degree.

I also have a masters in Ed. Psych. as well as an undergrad degree in Poli Sci and History.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

92. I have a J.D. too.

A.A.S. - Court Reporting (2 years)
B.A. - Biology (4-1/2 years)
J.D. - Law (5 years of night school while working full time as a court reporter)

12 years of college.

[Hepburn]

141. Long haul!

Congratulations! :hi:

[michreject]

73. I have a Bachelor's degree. nt

[momto3]

76. 14 years of college hear.

4 years - BA in Music
4 years - BS in Biology
6 years - PhD in Pathology

I would gladly go back for another if my husband would let me!

[Captain Hilts]

78. 'Hear' because of the music degree? nt

[tammywammy]

85. Currently working on my Bachelor's.

[RiverStone]

86. Masters degree, but I have since learned how little value it holds...

...compared to practical experience.

I skipped graduation.

p.s. It was in Education

[customerserviceguy]

121. I've never understood

why school systems wanted people to have master's degrees in education to teach simple arithmetic to second graders.

[Bake]

89. Other: Juris Doctor

Plus B.A., M.Div., M.B.A.

Bake

[gollygee]

91. B/A - And do you want fries with that?

I should have studied something people want to pay people to do.

[leftyclimber]

95. My BA

is in theatre. I feel your pain. :)

[mandyky]

94. Other - 11 yrs HS, GED, US Army, some college

But I love to read and learn, and although I don't have a lot of paper, I am pretty well read and have an IQ of about 136.

[taught_me_patience]

98. Currently pursuing an mba.

[supernova]

99. I have about 9 hours' worth of Grad work

In Technical Writing and ESL.

But I didn't finish. ESL I decided wasn't my thing. Tech writing I took just as a refresher after having been away from it for a while.

I still want a Masters', but money is an issue. :-(

[SidneyCarton]

105. Ph.D Student, European History, UC Riverside Projected date of completion 2013-14?

It takes a long time to get a History PhD.

[8 track mind]

109. well....

An associates in electronics technology, several college hours of machinist courses

and a lot of work experience :)


I simply love learning. I'm always trying to figure out how things work and how to make them better. I really wish my bizzarre work schedule would let me go back to school. i would truly love to learn the art of metal working and get my ASE certification. Time and money.........


:banghead:

[KitSileya]

110. Well, I did some PhD courses

and my Candidata Philologica degree is from before the Norwegian Universities decided to line up with American degrees so it stacks a bit higher than the master's with which it's equated. And I'm also one term away from the new Norwegian bachelor's degree in addition to the old school Candidata Magistera I also have. But that's because I love to study, and should I ever win the lottery, I'm going to do like Hilda Corner Burroughs from Heinlein's 'The Number of the Beast-' and enroll at an American university and treat it like a buffet.

[EFerrari]

112. I voted PhD student because I advanced to candidacy before I had to drop out.

It's too expensive to go back now. And, I loved the dark satanic mills, their opium dens and their creepy high pitched laughter.

[mentalsolstice]

113. Other: J.D. and a Master's

However, I know people who are just as intelligent as myself who have only a high school degree. A piece of parchment is not an indicator of how smart one is.

[lpbk2713]

117. Some college, no degree.

[DesertRat]

119. I'm very thankful to have a B.A. in Special Education

which I completed 30 years ago at the age of 21. It has provided me with "recession-proof" job assurance.

[leftyclimber]

120. You are a hero, DesertRat.

Special Ed teachers are, well, special. :pals:

[DesertRat]

122. Wow, thanks lefty

I don't know about the hero part...But from a practical standpoint, when times are tough (in 1981 and now) and jobs are being cut, there will always be special ed. positions.

[lumberjack_jeff]

124. Kudos to you.

We have several special ed teachers here.

I was invited to help the local school district interview sped teachers a few years ago... It is very hard to find candidates.

:hi:

[lib2DaBone]

128. I have too much education and not enough education....

Can you weld? Can you service an air conditioning unit or a refrigeration unit?

Can you plant a garden? Can you fix a simple 6 cyl engine? Can you sew a dress or bake a loaf of bread from scratch?

Get ready Folks....

[notadmblnd]

130. You missed associates and "some college"

[dysfunctional press]

132. some college...way back when ronbo raygun was fucking things up...

the last time that the economy was almost this bad- NONE of my friends were getting offers or finding jobs after graduation...(i was a sophomore, but my main group of friends were seniors). money for tuition was also tight, due to my parents financial situation, but i had an opportunity to get a good-paying and fairly secure construction job- so i took it, with the intention of going back after a couple years...which never really materialized. and then my previously un-diagnosed chronic condition(ankylosing spondylitis) kicked in, which led to chronic PAIN and disability.

i could still go back- and part of me WOULD like to get the degree...but to what end and at what cost? :shrug:
there's plenty of things to learn without doing so in a classroom setting- and i don't plan on going to work for anyone- so it's not like i have to prove anything to anyone, or meet any 'hiring criteria'.

[deaniac21]

134. PH.D. Plasma Physics

[Fireweed247]

138. BA in Psychology...and after studying DUers closely I have come to the conclusion

that you are all fucked up! :rofl:





just kidding :loveya:

[Starry Messenger]

139. I have an MFA.

I would love to go on, but all the doctorate programs for my field are in the UK. Maybe some day.

[emmadoggy]

140. AAS.

That's A-A-S, not A-S-S. :P

Radio/TV Broadcasting, of all things. :hurts:

[marlakay]

142. Went to business college 3 times over the years

For various things, have secretarial degree from when I was young, (back when you did shorthand lol) that was in 1974.

Then got Accounting Degree in the 80's...then wanted to do something different and got Hospitality Degree in early 90's.

I got married young and never had time or money for 4 yr college.

[stranger81]

144. Another "Other" -- J.D. -- checking in [n/t]

[11 Bravo]

146. BA and MA in Education, both from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Give 'em Hell Heels!