Spin off from the "define an average" thread

[Iriadne]

Someone made a comment that most litsters are probably of above average intelligence or are highly educated. This comment intrigued me, based on my personal experience and I'd like to see just how it would pan out in a poll. Granted - it's entirely voluntary and so really statistically irrelevant but I still think it could be educational...

 

[Cathleen]

Iriadne, I am happy you have created this thread and poll. The remark caught my attention as well and I just read your post on the other thread.

It will be interesting to see some results. Thanks for taking the time and effort to create the thread.

Cate

 

[wicked woman]

Don't want to be a stickler but how does someone who attended a community college (not a university) answer this? Also it would have been interesting to see an option for a professional designation that requires a number of years to obtain (such as medicine, law). Your poll seems to be missing some options that would have be useful.

 

[Cathleen]

Don't want to be a stickler but how does someone who attended a community college (not a university) answer this? Also it would have been interesting to see an option for a professional designation that requires a number of years to obtain (such as medicine, law). Your poll seems to be missing some options that would have be useful.

I do believe the title of the institution would not matter in this poll. I would interchange university and college. As for the professional designation, perhaps correlate the number of years to attain the designation to a Masters degree (usually 2 years), and others would be plus.

Just my thoughts.

 

[Iriadne]

I was hoping that the doctoral and post-doctoral option would catch things like a medical doctorate as well as, say, a PhD in something like astrophysics or Swahili. When I said University I was making a very tiny attempt to appeal to our international audience, many of whom may still refer to american high school as college and american college as university. I go to a small college for a bachelors degree and make every effort to avoid large american universities because I find them overwhelming.
Thanks so far for all the responses and I look forward to seeing more of them.

 

[wicked woman]

Originally posted by Cathleen
I do believe the title of the institution would not matter in this poll. I would interchange university and college. As for the professional designation, perhaps correlate the number of years to attain the designation to a Masters degree (usually 2 years), and others would be plus.

Just my thoughts.

*needing to change my vote then*

The only problem I have with interchanging university and college is that in Canada they aren't comparable. No matter....

 

[wicked woman]

Originally posted by Iriadne
I was hoping that the doctoral and post-doctoral option would catch things like a medical doctorate as well as, say, a PhD in something like astrophysics or Swahili. When I said University I was making a very tiny attempt to appeal to our international audience, many of whom may still refer to american high school as college and american college as university. I go to a small college for a bachelors degree and make every effort to avoid large american universities because I find them overwhelming.
Thanks so far for all the responses and I look forward to seeing more of them.

Iriadne...I'm not trying to be critical of your attempt at a poll...more trying to get appropriate responses (being part of the non-American international audience at Lit). At our community colleges you can't get a bachelor's degree...it's a lesser diploma (like where you'd got to take early childhood education...a 2 year program after high school). Perhaps the 2 year university associate I think you called it might be appropriate (I haven't heard of that before...here we have 3 and 4 year undergrad degrees).

 

[Iriadne]

Wicked Woman, I must admit that I'm not entirely familiar with the international education system. I took descriptors based on a system friends and I developed to compare where we were in school. Please feel free to leave me any suggestions for making this poll clearer to the international group here - I'm always willing to add to my knowledge base. In the US you can take a two year undergraduate degree, an associates degree, while a bachelors degree is either a 3 or 4 year program. Masters degrees are usually 2 years over your undergraduate work and a doctorate can be anywhere from 4-7 years beyond your undergraduate work. Certain fields may even take more than 7 years if there is extensive research or residencies/internships that are required. These definitions are what I was thinking of when I started this poll.

 

[TNRkitect2b]

well, i don't fit in any of the categories above, thanks to the way Architecutral professional degrees are set up (5 year program, yielding either a bachelors or a masters depending on the school, or a 4 year undergrad with a 2 year master's again depending on the school) so I chose masters.

though, I still have 3 years of internship prior to testing for my liscensure after graduation, so a total of 8 years of educating.

 

[wicked woman]

Originally posted by TNRkitect2b
well, i don't fit in any of the categories above, thanks to the way Architecutral professional degrees are set up (5 year program, yielding either a bachelors or a masters depending on the school, or a 4 year undergrad with a 2 year master's again depending on the school) so I chose masters.

though, I still have 3 years of internship prior to testing for my liscensure after graduation, so a total of 8 years of educating.

There you see you're smarter than I am Brian. I took it literally and marked Bachelor's Degree, even though as a chartered accountant,with that professional designation I've got three years additional qualification but not at a university/college.

 

[TNRkitect2b]

There you see you're smarter than I am Brian. I took it literally and marked Bachelor's Degree, even though as a chartered accountant,with that professional designation I've got three years additional qualification but not at a university/college.

So does this mean that I win a prize?

 

[Kissophile]

Count me in with Wicked and my friend the architect from Tennessee for my educational numbers don't properly fit the poll parameters either. Nonetheless, I believe I managed to acquire a decent education in the 20 years I gave it.

 

[TNRkitect2b]

Count me in with Wicked and my friend the architect from Tennessee for my educational numbers don't properly fit the poll parameters either. Nonetheless, I believe I managed to acquire a decent education in the 20 years I gave it.

I'm not there yet... still have 3 semesters to go counting this one.... then internship.

But someday....

 

[wicked woman]

Originally posted by TNRkitect2b
So does this mean that I win a prize?

*apologies for the minor hijack*

A prize? Well Brian if you want to make a trip to the north *it's -35C with the wind chill today!* we could go out for drinks to discuss which of us is smarter...or perhaps some of your designs. *what? you were expecting something else? *



*returns thread to normal programming*

 

[Ezzy]

And I vote "other" I have formal education attainments, but I have done far more studying post school, and maybe even enough in a couple of diverse subjects to obtain additional Masters degrees.

Not enough to claim a PHD or Doctorate, but more than enough to add an additional couple or three of Bachelor or Masters level degrees. Some of the works I have published are used as part of the required syllabus for current students.

The self-taught would need this category as well; some of the smartest people I know have little formal adult education, but they are still some of the smartest (well rounded, broad based intelligent) people I know.

 

[Kissophile]

And I vote "other" I have formal education attainments, but I have done far more studying post school, and maybe even enough in a couple of diverse subjects to obtain additional Masters degrees.

Not enough to claim a PHD or Doctorate, but more than enough to add an additional couple or three of Bachelor or Masters level degrees. Some of the works I have published are used as part of the required syllabus for current students.

The self-taught would need this category as well; some of the smartest people I know have little formal adult education, but they are still some of the smartest (well rounded, broad based intelligent) people I know.

I agree. I've spent far more than my share of time around pre-doctoral candidates, recent Ph.D.s, and other over-educated sorts and I can say without reservation that I have known plenty of people who are smarter than many of them. Many believe that the primary difference between a smart person with a Ph D and one without is the persistence to stay in school until you're nearly 30.

 

[Bobmi357]

One of the smartest engineers I ever met was all the more impressive because he lacked any formal degree. This guy was capable of solving problems that most school taught engineers would have thrown up their hands and walked away in disgust from.

 

[entitled]

Does this mean i'm one of them thar smart folk? After high school i never did much for official schooling (except lose the scholarships and flunk out, but that's another subject). That doesn't necessarily mean anything. i've still got my own business, balance that with raising the kids and taking care of the Hubby, and have at least a shred of sanity. Somewhere.

There are so many people out there that are not only smart, but are successful, yet have never had any type of schooling. Quite a few never even finished high school or the equivalent. It all comes down to how a person uses their mind, and how well they can fit things together. It's not how much schooling they've had.

Just my couple of cents' worth.

 

[~*sunkyssed_kym*~]

Does this mean i'm one of them thar smart folk? After high school i never did much for official schooling (except lose the scholarships and flunk out, but that's another subject). That doesn't necessarily mean anything. i've still got my own business, balance that with raising the kids and taking care of the Hubby, and have at least a shred of sanity. Somewhere.

There are so many people out there that are not only smart, but are successful, yet have never had any type of schooling. Quite a few never even finished high school or the equivalent. It all comes down to how a person uses their mind, and how well they can fit things together. It's not how much schooling they've had.

Just my couple of cents' worth.

I'm with entitled, whilst my formal training wasn't done thru a "formal school", I have attained a lot of knowledge in the past 20 odd years (and they have been odd!)
I have had a successful bussiness, one which I gave up a few years back to work for an international company for better pay and benefits. One of those benefits being no hassles to collect my pay
I've met people who have spent years attaining their degrees and were as dumb as a box of rocks when it came to living day by day. go figure.
IMHO, its not the degree which defines a person, but knowledge and how its used.
peace ya'll

~kym~ adding my $.02 worth

 

[SweetErika]

I've met people who have spent years attaining their degrees and were as dumb as a box of rocks when it came to living day by day. go figure.
IMHO, its not the degree which defines a person, but knowledge and how its used.
peace ya'll

~kym~ adding my $.02 worth

This reminds me...there was this 40 something year old man named Shahab getting his MBA. Shahab had a few jobs along the way, but he spent the majority of his life getting degrees...from multiple PhDs in hard sciences to a few random MAs...he was so overqualified, it was rediculous. It didn't take long to figure out why Shahab was spending his life in academia... he was a pompous ass who lacked the social skills necessary to get along with others in a work enviroment.

I've learned a lot through the traditional channels, but the most valuable lessons were ones I learned about myself and how to interact with others.

 

[~*sunkyssed_kym*~]

<snip>

I've learned a lot through the traditional channels, but the most valuable lessons were ones I learned about myself and how to interact with others.

SweetErika, I think you've said it in a nutshell; its not about how many degrees one has, it is whether or not they've learned themselves and have become comfortable and confident in knowing their strengths and weakness without being afraid of showing either to those around them.
Brillaint thoughts!

~kym~ accepting myself and working for peace with others

*edited to add. . .
Dominance works in BDSM only, sooner or later, the oppressed revolt against tyranny, don't they? a bit off topic, but thought I'd throw it anyway

 

[Elizabeth]

Let's see. I have a associates degree in computer science. I also have several MS certs and I have done tier 3 support for some time now. About 3/4 of the way done with a BS from a university. Since work pays for most of it why not. I don't really have a "need" for it but I do want to be done with it and then pursue something else. Computer related but since I love working in telecommunications it may very well be business related.

 

[Elizabeth]

One of the smartest engineers I ever met was all the more impressive because he lacked any formal degree. This guy was capable of solving problems that most school taught engineers would have thrown up their hands and walked away in disgust from.

That's so funny. Most of the network guys I work with never look or act like that stereotypical "network geek guy" picture people (me included) have in mind. They were all field tech and supervisors at some time. Big, bald, Harley riding guys that look more like bouncers or roadies.