I have Higher National Diploma in Chemistry (a UK vocational course which is supposed to be the equivalent to a degree in Chemistry) and an MBA for which my HND was considered a degree equivalent for me to gain entry.
Active posters: What education have you had, what degrees do you possess?
by EndofMysteries 76 Replies latest jw friends
-
-
OrphanCrow
TTWSYF:
adjusted knowledge: Though I think credentials are important and add weight to a person's argument, I also think a well read person with life experience is just as qualified
I disagree. Although it can be true. The problem is that where are they getting their reading material? Is it an accredited source of information?I agree with you. TTWSYF.
A well read person is not necessarily the same as well educated. A person may be well read in hundreds of books and still fall short of having a solid base of knowledge.
And, a person can have excellent critical reasoning skills but no solid base upon which to use them. It is the educational institution that can offer a framework in which to evaluate material.
That said, though, I have met many people with lots of letters behind, and in front of, their names who are dumb as posts on subjects outside their frame of reference. And I have met people with little more than a grade school education that have phenomenal knowledge about particular subjects.
Education comes in many forms - learning is a life time endeavor, and just because a person doesn't have letters behind their name, doesn't mean that they don't have valuable contributions to make and things to teach even the most learned. That is why the greatest teachers teach - so that they can learn.
-
DwainBowman
I had a friend, that's been dead for a number of years now. He quit school in the 6th. His family lived a short walk to one of the big Collage's in LA. He spent every minute he could studying in the collage library. At 19 he went to work at JPL. In a short time they knew he was a really smart man. His understanding of math & science were over the top! In no time he was set up with his own lab and staff. Hi tech fuels that were used in the Apollo missions were his, along with the shuttle fuels. He received Phd's from MIT, U Alabama, UCLA, without ever taking a class. He moved to All in the mid 70's, and worked for NASA, at the Red Stone Arsenal. He was just unbelievably smart!
Education, is more than going to a higher school, and a sheep skin! I know people with 4 to 8 year degree's, that work the counters at McDonald's, because they do not have what it takes, to use what they learned!
Everyone has natural abilities both in learning and understanding! I worked with mechanical engineer's for a few years, one a Mr Bill Fortman, had only a high school education, yet he had a natural mechanical understanding, the others could never match. No amount of education can teach what he had!
I am nobody, under pressure from the elders, I quit school in the 9th, to pionner. Right after that my dad order me back to school, or get out. I was hardly 15. I left. Pioneered, worked, and lived in a boarding house until I was 18. I got a real job. One day they started giving everyone assessment test. Then based on the results gave more specialized test. Mine was Mechanical. In a test that was to take an hour, I finished it in 25 minutes. I scored 99%. Well I was accused of cheating, for no one had ever taken this test in less than 50 minutes, and I was told no one had ever scored over 97%. Well they gave me a much newer test, with three people watching. It too was an hour test. I finished it in 46 minutes! And scored 99%! The next week I was sent to Chicago for training, under Bill Fortman. Major pay increase, and a great job. Sadly over time the elders got to me, for all though I made moist meetings, and fs, it wasn't good enough, I bought into the lie's about 75, and quit the best job I ever had. I would be retired now, and in much better shape!
I wasted my real gift for nothing, broken, used up and crushed. In pretty bad shape physically, and i see no real way forward!
-
OrphanCrow
opusdei1972 Many christians who have a Ph.D. in theology use this degree to propagate lies with a scholarly language. Nothing more.
Good Point. Degrees come with bias. Just because someone has some letters doesn't mean the letters are credible. I have read much material written by people who claim degrees, and then when I have researched where those degrees come from, I find that they are little more than popcorn box degrees. (Dr. Bergman's biology degree springs to mind)
Many of the theologians with Phds in front of their names have been educated in Christian universities that have a pre-determined bias built into their educational material. Or, they have been awarded their degrees from 'Bible' colleges.
'Scholarly' has a broad range of interpretation.
-
freemindfade
Bachelors degree in business.
I needed it to get where I am, but I feel unless you are learning a technical skill, its just an accomplishment. Super successful people often have no university degree, and some people that have them become wealthy because they are the same type of person, educated or not.
A formal education will make you a living, self education will make you a fortune...
Learn to hustle.
-
Oubliette
-
It's interesting to read the many comments on this thread regarding exceptional people: those without formal education that accomplish(ed) amazing things and those with advanced degrees that did/do little.
While these anecdotal stories can be informative, they need to be recognized for just what they are: exceptions.
This chart from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics should hopefully lend some balance to the discussion.
Why you should seriously consider the merits of a college education:
-
-
- -
Tenacious
AAS
BSBA
MBA
PhD - in Bullshit from WTS (dropped out, will never graduate)
-
SonoftheTrinity
Associates Degree in Liberal Arts with emphasis on Spanish and English
Fluent in Spanish, Portuguese, French, Bourbonais Creole, Haitian Creole, Jamaican Creole, and Esperanto
Conversant in Amharic, Hebrew, Arabic, Maltese, Japanese, and Fijian
Can read Enough Greek to cross reference the New Testament.
I say my prayers in Gi'iz (Classical Ethiopic) so as not to offend my JW better half with the actual meaning.
Gave up on pursuing a Linguistics Degree after failing Statistics 3 times. Dropped out of Legal Interpreting school.
If I were single I would probably be teaching ESL in an unstable part of the world just for the stripes.
I think my wife at first thought she could bring me around to the Troof, because I was caught between two doctrines when we met, but I could see through the BS at first glance. I told her to bring me a brother who knew the Bible in its original languages and the had read the Bible and the Apocryphal books so that he could go over doctrine with me and refute the Apocryphal books on a book by book basis. Of course no one outside of the Bethel has the time or the resources to do something like that and I have been a thorn in her side ever since. Sorry for digressing.
Orphan Crow: Anyone can get a degree in Theology up to a Doctorate of Divinity from the University of South Africa, pay in Rands instead of dollars, and it is recognised worldwide as University of South Africa started out as a distance college of Cambridge University.
I remember my anthropology professor reluctantly informing us that Jane Goodall only had a foundation/associates degree in anthropology. That made me think about all the dying languages that need saving. I took a Certified Nurses' Aid course but failed the red cross exam. I would still like to perhaps work with elderly speakers of dying languages to record them before they are lost to humanity.
-
adjusted knowledge
TTWSYF:
adjusted knowledge: Though I think credentials are important and add weight to a person's argument, I also think a well read person with life experience is just as qualified
I disagree. Although it can be true. The problem is that where are they getting their reading material? Is it an accredited source of information?I was mainly referencing non-professional undergraduate degrees.To complete a BS degree at a state university in a variety of fields is not exactly difficult. It just requires a time commitment at least in the USA. To receive a liberal arts degree in history doesn't make you any more qualified or educated in history, than a person who is well read. A professional degree in accounting, engineering, medicine, nursing, ect.. is a different scenario. Most of the topics I read here is in relations to philosophy, religion, biology, and evolution. I don't expect many of our posters to have PHd in those fields.
-
Giordano
High School grad only. I left the Borg with my wife when we were in our early 20's. We had one HS diploma between us. We had spent our college years pioneering where the need was great. Woke up and left that was 48 years ago.
Eventually we became artists....... there are no educational requirements for being an artist and very little to sell real estate. Just talent and determination. We did both. In truth we barely survived then eventually and to our surprise........ we also prospered.
I retired at age 60 and put my time to good use volunteering in our small City, my wife volunteers as well and she continues to create art. She did earn her GED after we left the religion. Never needed it as it turned out.
We have one University and a Liberal Arts Military Institution in town. So this is a highly educated area.
I was asked to join a Historic Preservation Foundation and help the Foundation achieve some important goals. I served for 7 years and sat at our board table with PHDs and MA'S. One General and two Colonels. As vice president of the Foundation I often filled in as Board Chair.
No one ever knew they were being led in conversation by an ex JW with a half assed HS education.
I do read 5 to 6 books a month....... started doing that while I was pioneering which is a big reason I was able to walk us out of the 'truth' so early.