Do Degrees make you Smart or Dumb

[sunbeam]

I have two masters, today I could not attach stupid photo.... I feel like idiot , so no.... degrees do not make you automatically smart know it all person

 

[Polar]

Depends on what you call intelligence and which degrees you're talking about. You will not get a masters degree in physics or mathematics if you do not possess some kind of aptitude for logical thinking. You won't have an easy time doing a master of laws either if your memory is like Swiss cheese.

Intelligence is mostly inherent but degrees can be stimulating by introducing you to new theoretical concepts. By analogy, some of us have clunky cogwheels and some of us well oiled, but you still need to fit the pieces together to get a sophisticated construct. Education can help.

Degrees are relative but not worthless. They're a certificate of certain endurance and furthermore lay a base of theoretical and/or practical thinking which is indispensable in the professional world that they represent.

In conclusion, do degrees make you smart? Not necessarily. Do they make you better suited for certain jobs? Yes, most definitely. I don't get why some people in here actually call them useless...

 

[Badjedidude]

Degrees make you able to get a job.

No more, no less.

 

[Mouse]

My (eventual) degree should at least help make my literary agent smile. :lol:

 

[Arsenic Queen]

I made a degree in Graphic Arts... it doesn't mean my work is any better than any non-degree artist out there. It's just a proof that I've gone through 3.5 years of harsh critics and insults, impossible delays, clashed with huge egos of WEIRD teachers, and trying hard to improve myself... and got out on the other end with a hurt ego, and hurt self-confidence, but still alive and I keep going. Which means I'm OK enough to make it artistically, and crazy enough to go through hell for it. As for getting a living from it, it's another story...

So... until now, my degrees have not been what made me a living. I studied and finished degrees for graphic arts and psychology and I've been a secretary all my life. I made good money but I doubt my degrees had anything to do with it. It proved I could achieve them, which is already something I guess, and in the mind of people, when they ask WHAT I am, it gives them an answer. "Oh, so you're a pro artist.", and then they either get admirative or depreciative, depending the type of people.

I did not answer your question, but I guess it's my 2 cents.

 

[Brian]

I think training and useful education is valuable and worthwhile...but I think a lot of college is comprised of silly tripe.

I took an 'Intercultural Communications' class this last quarter and it was ridiculous. Now, I've never really judged people by their skin anyway, so maybe I felt insulted that they were suggesting I did. Or maybe it was the blatant promotion of globalization and monoculture; I believe that to an extent, cultures should retain some cohesion, lest people lose their roots forever. That means mine, too.

Other ridiculous points:

-White culture is billed purely from the perspective of the American world of business and consumerism, with no aspect of our origins even mentioned beyond maybe England.

-The book purports that having people from varietal cultures in a work space will provide more points of view for more effective problem solving.

What?

Now, maybe this is me being a Luddite and not seeing past my own world of relevance, but it seems to me you're either going to solve a problem or not. A patient with breathing difficulty needs O2 and a medication. A house that needs built can be built in a variety of ways from tons of different materials, but whether the builder is Chinese or not is not going to change its characteristic advantages. When you build a car, it will either be fuel efficient or high powered; magical fingers from the Netherlands will not make it more so. Are we talking about sales or advertising, here? Marketing? Interior design? Why the **** are you so obscure gyaaghghhhhh

And all the book/class did was toss about this lofty, flighty, feel-good ideas, without any concrete topics of discussion or examples. I learned a few habits or customs particular to a few cultures through my research projects, but that was about it, and it really gave me nothing to help me in life. Italians are touchy-feely and Germans are not. Oh, wait, I just made a stereotype, which makes me intollerant of other cultures. I'm such a typical whitey. Do you see my predicament? **** you, class.


Oh well. It's credits.

 

[sylvestris lybica]

College...it's important to get an education and have an expensive piece of paper to your name depending on the kind of career you're looking for, but it has little to do with intelligence or lack there of. It's about money, time, and effort. I'm a senior in college and I feel like these years have been a huge waste of time because I'm walking into a horrible job market where my degree could maybe get me a $10 an hour entry level job that a high school diploma could've gotten me ten years ago. I haven't learned a damn thing about the real world, real people, real human interaction aside from my work experience. And most of the jobs you get out there aren't about using every single thing you learned while earning your degree.

I don't think that college is always a waste...some schools are higher quality than others and of course it helps your job prospects. But too many people think getting a textbook education is the end all be all. Experience is also an important thing. It's what everyone wants to hire, but so many people are just reading and reporting instead of going out there and getting quality experience. I'm one of those people and now I'm faltering.