Just wanted to say to avoid any confusion that the posts from my username in this thread were not from me last night. Had a lady friend over from school doing a project and she posted on my account. We are both in the secondary education program at Metro. As for my 2 cents on this subject: if you're good at what you do and enjoy it, good enough for me. There is a huge difference between ignorance and stupid, ignorance can be fixed. Sorry for the confusion.
Napalm sticks to kids.
Sometimes I would love to take a big stick and knock the stupid out of people.
bailey bud wrote: The video cracks me up. Wild Bill is saying "we don't need a college education" --- yet he touts his pseudo credentials!
(he obviously thinks the appearance of an education is important).
I don't think any of you would want a surgeon who didn't go to college. Most of you would not invest with a stock broker who lacks a college degree. I certainly wouldn't drive over a bridge designed by someone who lacks a degree. How would you feel about a high school teacher who never went to college?
Granted - there are things you can do (real estate agent - or mortgage underwriter) without a degree.
Is there junk in the curriculum --- sure, there is (Bible College have plenty of their own junk). If you think the industry is proud of wackos (Ward Churchill) - think again.
The bottom line: the Census Bureau data makes it really clear - that people with degrees:
- make more
- are less likely to be unemployed
- are better able to keep up with rising costs
- save more
- live better.
RT - student loans underwrite maybe 20% of the cost of college - so without the federal loan system, a professor would likely not go bankrupt - but would be fairly uncomfortable.
Back to Wild Bill
take a look at the badge he's wearing in his videos:
a) It would be a federal crime to advocate a political view while wearing an official badge
b) The badge he's wearing does not match the badge of a US Deputy Marshall.
The guy is a bigger fraud than any college professor that I know.
Excellent points. the whole thing is laughable.
As to the thread's statement. First of all smart as used is defined as having or showing quick intelligence or ready mental capability. This, I believe, is dictated by genetics and no amount of education can increase intelligence. Education merely builds on intelligence by warding off ignorance. So in line with BB, this guy has no clue what it is he is talking about.
I once had a college professor who once told us that a degree was nothing more than a standard of basic intelligence, and a means to show that a person could accomplish a goal (graduating). I agree with that statement, but also feel that without the sheepskin, your choices are more limited.
Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs should relax and get used to the idea.
Robert A. Heinlein
I enjoyed my university experience. I had to learn things that I knew nothing about. To get my BS in Math, I also had to take Spanish. And I had to take physics, and I had to learn history and geography. I saw it as a means of becoming more well rounded. How can that be a bad thing? It is like reading a book about something that you know nothing about. And you learn something. I can't see any good in being closed minded. It is one guy's opinion.
i am not saying my degree makes me smarter than anyone. It is simply the career path that I chose. I worked in a alloys producing company, and there were first class machinists that studied their trade. Their trade took just as long to complete as my college degree. I could not be a first class machinist without that study. It does not make my degree more worthy. It was simply a different career path choice.
I once listened to a speech from a vice president of Reed College - who said, the real purpose of Reed is to certify smart students, and to make smart students smarter.........
(Reed operates one of the only college-based nuclear reactors in the country. I don't think you'd want a nuclear power plant operated by someone who lacks a college degree).
I found another job you'd have a hard time doing without a degree ---- I don't think Wild Bill with his unaccredited bible college degree would be qualified (or able) to locate oil.
otisptoadwater wrote: There are several kinds of knowledge, practical knowledge and academic knowledge are two of them. I have worked with Navy enlisted personnel who didn't have a GED but knew everything there was to know about being an electrician, plumber, and hull technician. On the other side of the coin I work with people everyday who have Masters degrees and Phds, some of them can't operate a can opener or drive a car.
But would you consider those examples the norm or the exception? In my experience, it really depends on the individual, but in general, an education is something worth having and improves your life and your contributions to society around. It does not automatically make you smarter or superior to those without it, but for the majority of the people who are educated I believe it enriches and enhances their lives and the contribution they make.
When you plant ice you're going to harvest wind. - Robert Hunter
It depends on what you study in college. Some college degrees are less than worthless. I say less than worthless because some degrees are full of coursework in socialism and communism. If you learn a skill that allows you to make a living, I suppose the education was worth while as long as it does not enslave you in debt for the rest of your life.
For me the reason for college was to learn a skill that I could make a living with. The money I spent on engineering was well worth it. In the process I was required to take many courses that I call "worthless".
So some people with a college education are smarter for it, and some are simply indoctrinated by it. Many people are too stupid to tell the difference between the two. I had a stanford educated professor who taught one of my thermodynamics classes- and although he knew his way around the laws of thermodynamics, he was a political leftist idiot.
He would drone on and on about leftist political idology- and I on more than one occasion was forced to interrupt him and call him out on his bullsh*t. I simply would not tolerate lectures about politics without at least standing up for what was right.
His goal was to teach a little about thermodynamics, and a lot about socialism. I can only imagine what it's like in todays colleges- and many students are probably afraid to confront a professor - for fear of a bad grade. I simply would have kicked the living crap out of this guy had he tried that with me. I would have been waiting for him where he parked his car! He didn't dare, and I got an "A" in his class- I think he never figured out what my name was.
If your stupid- and you go to a stupid college, you will graduate with a masters or PHD in stupidity. And it's unfortunate- but many colleges are specializing in stupidity these days. I think humans are strange - a PHD level education does not mean specialized knowledge in anything more than what you study- so a person might be an expert in chemistry, and know very little about all other things. I have a friend who is a PHD and an expert in superconductivity - but has to ask me how an electrical circuit in his car works.
I think many stupid people are far too confidant in their college teachers or professors- and if life has taught me anything- it's that even the so called smart people should be weighed by reason and common sense. If your college professor tells you to jump off a bridge- would you do it? Many would.
Many positions of thought that I heard in college lectures have proven by time to be false- so caveat emptor!
Interesting you post all of this based on *that* video. What you are saying to me is that you do not believe in the philosophy. That is what university is. To get a degree you must take more than your core courses. It is supposed to TEACH you a little about other fields and a lot about your own field. I studied the philosophy of Math. My math courses did not only encompass numbers. I also learned theory. Advanced Calculus was the foundations of analysis. I also had to learn about other fields to get my degree. I also do not look down on another person's choice of study. Just because it is not what I enjoy, does not minimize others.
You appear to be saying to me that you are OK with a closed mind?
For those interested in some statistics, here are some. But this has nothing to do with being "smarter", just what you can expect regarding your income vs. education level...
So if you compare a person with a bachelor's degree to a person with a high school diploma, the bachelor's degree on average pays you about 65% more, and you have about half the chance of being unemployed.
Excellent points. the whole thing is laughable.
