Anonymous wrote:getting into 80k of debt for an english, history or poly sci degree is beyond stupid considering the salaries are very low and it will take forever to pay off.

Maybe these people did not go into debt to get it. I graduated with a double English/Poly Sci degree but was debt-free. There is value in a liberal arts education and college should not necessarily be viewed through such a utilitarian lens.

getting into 80k of debt for an english, history or poly sci degree is beyond stupid considering the salaries are very low and it will take forever to pay off.

I grew up around here and never really knew of anyone (except for one of my grandmothers) who did not/had not gone to college. Regardless of whether how smart a person may be, or what they did with their degree or not, etc., I do find it a bit weird in this day and age if people do not go to college (ie finish college). That just seems a bit strange to me. I am sorry. I always did also think it was a little. . .different?. . . that one of my grandmothers did not go to college; we were told that her father, in that day, did not think that girls needed to go to college (her brother went) and so she went to secretarial school and then became a secretary in NYC, where she met my grandfather. I thought it was peculiar and old-fashioned that her father would think girls would not need to go to college. OFf course, now as an adult, I have learned that was not unusual for that day and age, but I was always proud of my other grandmother for going to college too (she majored in math and then became a h.s. math teacher)and, considering this would have been in the 40s or so, I do find it a big peculiar in this day and age, now, for adults not go or have gone to college. Again, this is whether they become successful or not, do something with it or not, etc. I just feel like it's something everyone should do, it makes you a more well educated and well-rounded/aware individual, and then you go on from there and build your life. Just my two cents based upon my life experience! I'm sorry!

In the past it was much easier to become accomplished without a college degree then it is now.

I am not sure how many people there are in the last 5-10 years who have not going to higher-ed or dropped out and have gone on to be successful but my guess is that number is much much lower than 20-30 years ago.

Unless someone wants to learn a trade or is a brilliant innovator or has exceptional people skills and can make it big as a salesperson, I am not sure how they would find success without a college degree. There may still be a few who work their way up through the ranks but many jobs require a degree to even apply.

I don't think college has anything to do with intelligence, it is more that it has become a professional job requirement so I would assume that someone who doesn't have a college degree has skills / a plan and a different career path laid out.

Neither do I think going to college has any connection to our personality or whether or not you are a good person, a nice person etc...

As for respect..I respect the person, not the credentials.

Anonymous wrote:I know people with college degrees that are not very bright. I know people with only a H.S. degree who are truly brilliant. A degree is not an indicator of intelligence. I tend to lose respect for people who judge more than anything.

+1

I know people with college degrees that are not very bright. I know people with only a H.S. degree who are truly brilliant. A degree is not an indicator of intelligence. I tend to lose respect for people who judge more than anything.

If they are very successful, then my respect level goes up. But if they are run of the mill average, it goes down.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lose respect is not the right way to describe it. Rather, I think s/he must come from a lower socio-economic background where either 1.) education for its own sake was not stressed by his/her parents or 2.) his/her family could not afford it.

And what are your conclusions from this assumption?

That would be NOKD.

When I find out that someone successful does not have a college degree, I am even more impressed. I know a lot of people like this, and they are generally blue collar business owners who got by on their true grit, resourcefulness, and street smarts.

penis size trumps all

Everyone in my family has college degrees and graduate degrees. Doctors, lawyers, M.Ed.s, Ph.D.s, etc. My husband "only" has a college degree and it was an issue for some of my family members. My answer is no, OP. I do not lose respect for someone like your husband who may not have a degree, but has forged a successful career and is, by all accounts, an upstanding member of the community. I believe that there are different things that educate us in life and that school is just one of those things.

OP- Your DH needs to read Outliers. Fascinating. He is more typical of suçess than he realizes, as am I a non- degreed business owner.

For some of us, jumping in the professional world at 19, was the best move ever.

I think a lot depnds on why a person doesn't have a degree. If an older person didn't have the opportunity for finanical or other reasons, I wouldn't regard it as anything but a lost opportunity for them.

College requires people to spend four years fulfilling requirements for a major, passing finals, and writing papers. It's a signal that you can stick with a prescribed program and see it through. That's why employers value degrees no matter what subject they are in (although engineering is valued a lot more), and it's why MIT grads get better job offers than party school grads. It's also why I do lose respect for people who started college, but just couldn't be bothered to finish. It's a sticktuitiveness thing.

I also find that people who have not been to college have less familiarity with what is out there to be known, so they sometimes think that they know a lot more than they do. SOmeone who has taken freshman biology or economics probably knows more about those fields than someone who didn't go to college. Yet, those people who pride themselves on being grads of "The School of Hard KNocks" are more likely to have aconfidently stated, but much less well-informed, opinion on medicine or the economy

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not at all, especially if they can carry on a reasonably intelligent conversation. I do lose respect for people who don't vote.

You know your vote really doesn't count right?

This was my post. Curious. Why don't you think my vote really counts?

No, most people are overpaying for their degrees nowadays.

I think its awesome when people find ways to be successful without them.