I managed to do well without completing my bachelors' degree also, but that was thirty years ago. Today more and more people have college degrees, so in order to get a decent paying job you need one to get in for an interview. Being over-qualified happened in 1969, too - I remember it well when applying for a bank teller's job. So nothing new there, but this is a tough time to be out of work and it is especially so if you are educated and just was laid off from a good paying position. No one seems to be hiring outside of the government and the contractors who received federal stimulus money to build roads, bridges and all that.
say Glam ;o) Education has always been important, it all depends on the Work Field a Person want's to be in !!
posted by zdonz
about 1 month ago
I've never regretted the years I worked full time and took classes at night, weekends, or early morning on a flex schedule so that I could become a teacher. But my family never understood why I didn't care to pursue lots of "letters" after my name, when I pass tests with ease, etc. I simply got the credentials I needed to land the job and have the career of my dreams. In other words, I jumped through the required hoops.
So now, a couple of decades later, I have 90+ graduate hours in everything from Alaska Studies, to Early Childhood Education, educational law, Algebra......you name it, and always with a 4.0. I'm dedicated to being a lifelong learner, but I'm not going to collect degrees....Swarovski crystal is much more satisfying to collect!
And....as I'll freely admit (and why I fit in pretty well at Home Depot the last four years) some of the biggest idiots I've ever seen have degrees, and some of the smartest people I ever knew didn't. The phrase "educated idiot" became popular for a reason!
Honeybee, I so agree with the phrase "educated idiot". Besides, college is not for everyone. For instance I have two sons who are master plumbers. The one son had a difficult time in school, the other had an easy time. They both make better money than my college educated son who worked his way through although he does ok. The one who had a difficult time in school, had to get his GED but got it easily when he had a motivation to become a plumber.
There are all kinds of education. Formal education is only one kind. I have a friend who is a head engineer for a telecommunications company and he has not yet completed an undergraduate degree. He has learned almost everything on his own. He's a geek's geek. Bill Lear had little formal education. At the same time, I am highly formally educated, probably because I love learning for the sake of learning. My niece with a high school education makes more than I ever will. My brother, a well educated and wealthy man, has told me that his success was having the good luck to be in the right place at the right time.
There is a different between formal education and common sense, hence the educated idiot phenomenon.
It just depends on what you want to do with your life and what you need to know to do it.
There are thousands of millionaires that never graduated from High School, let alone college.
But again, college is essential for a degreed profession.
There are many jobs that require you to have a degree. I was turned down for a job when I worked for a chain many years ago. I was the most and best qualified to be an assistant book buyer but because I did not have a degree I did not get the job. The degree was not necessary for the job but the company wanted to be able to say in their annual report that all of their executives are college educated.
I got my degree shortly after leaving the employment of that company just because I wanted one. Not because I needed it for my job.
As someone mentioned earlier. A person will get a degree or certificate based on their motivation.
I checked census information. About 27% of people over age 25 have a college degree. Probably the same number have technical degrees (AA's certifications like Microsoft, etc.) - which may be a part of the 27% as well, but could well expand the field to perhaps 50% of the population.
The older we get the less the focus has been on education and in our parent's generation many didn't finish high school and some did not finish grade school.
While many jobs require a degree I think we have gotten too degree centric in some areas and we overlook the best candidates for the job.
To me, a degree without a decent work ethic won't go far.
I sometimes think that some college degrees have no relevance to the working world and will never help you get a job. Philosophy is one example,unless you intend on staying in the academic world and getting a doctorate and teaching.
I am a firm believer in we need to do what is best for us. Not everyone is cut out to go to college and not everyone is cut out to work for an employer. Some of us are better suited to working for ourselves.
