Page 5 | Can people who don't have a Degree or have the intelligence to gain one be successful?

curious79 · 26/03/2023 10:21

Unless you’re talking about the very extreme low end of intelligence, wherein someone may struggle to function because their thinking lacks logic, they can’t add / think things through etc etc, most people are perfectly capable of getting a degree somewhere and in something that interests them. And getting a degree is not a predictor of success. Clearly though it is a ticket for entry into a lot of jobs.

Society doesn’t make one feel like a failure for not having a degree or not being thin enough or rich enough. Feeling like a failure is very much a function of our own self talk, our resilience, and how we process events in life. Someone sitting in a mansion, who owns the company, could feel like a failure, where someone sitting in a rundown shack, with a basic job and who loves the people around them could feel like the most successful person alive.

PetriDaffoBill · 26/03/2023 10:22

Define success and intelligence.

Many degree educated people are neither, or lacking in one but not the other. Sure, there are many are in senior management positions simply because they have a university qualification but I'm not sure that that is the be and end all to success nor does it mean they are more intelligent than those who have been unable to gain one due to poverty, discrimination, trauma and so on.

CleaningOutMyCloset · 26/03/2023 10:23

UrbanMan27 · 25/03/2023 19:45

Hi,

Im just wondering does not having a Degree or having high enough intelligence to get one make you a failure? As I feel like Society makes people feel without a Degree like a failure and that they'll be working jobs and not having a career in such jobs as working on minimum wage or just above for the rest of their lives.

What's your thoughts?

I couldn't disagree with your statement more.

I know a bloke who's got a degree who drives a forklift truck, I don't have anything more than low GCSE's, left school at 16 and I'm over half my way to a 6 figure salary

Some people hate learning and don't 'want' to continue with their schooling, doesn't mean they can't have a good career or earn well. It's about finding your niche and having an aptitude to knowing what you do well and working hard .

Parker231 · 26/03/2023 10:33

RosesAndHellebores · 26/03/2023 10:09

There's far too much emphasis on degrees and has been for too any decades. Why this nation values a degree from a former poly (and I don't mean practical/vocational degrees in pharmacy, electrical/mechanical engineering, etc) more highly than technical and/or vocational qualifications I shall never know.

I also don't think it helps to conflate intelligence with academic ability or more imortantly, support.

Step left school at 15. Served an apprenticeship in carpentry and then one in French polishing because he loved wood. He had a specialist building trades firm and lots of contracts with English Heritage, etc. He usually had at least 20 men working for him and dabbled in antiques too both as a restorer and an investor. He will read reference books but not a novel and he doesn't write except notes for a quote. Mother did all his paperwork. I suspect he has undiagnosed and severe dyslexia and would never admit to it. He made a great deal of money.

I dropped out of uni in 1978! No degree obviously. I then did a cookery course, secretarial course, spent some time in Europe. When I returned I got a junior job on a syndicate desk and was selling Eurobonds within three years. By the time I was 30 I had a house in London and a small mortgage. It funded seven years off with the children after I was married. When I went back to work I got some professional qualifications, exceptionally because I had no degree, and then did a Masters.

The UK very sadly places far too little importance on the vocational trades which often extrapolate to people running small businesses and becoming employers. We should value those people and trades far more highly and accept the fact that many of those involved in them earn far more than nurses, teachers and policemen, etc. Where they don't do as well is in the context of paid holiday, paid sick pay, 100% paid mat leave and pensions. It's vital they have critical I'll health insurance.

Where would we be without:

Hairdressers
Mechanics
Plumbers
Electricians
Builders
Carpenters
Dry cleaners, etc

We need to value all those trades far more highly and that value needs to start in early years' education. I have met far too many teachers, including MIL, who are a bit sneery about them.

Definitely need more focus on apprenticeships in trades - the uk has huge shortages of skilled tradespeople. More electricians and plumbers!

CuriouslyDifferent · 26/03/2023 10:52

UrbanMan27 · 25/03/2023 19:45

Hi,

Im just wondering does not having a Degree or having high enough intelligence to get one make you a failure? As I feel like Society makes people feel without a Degree like a failure and that they'll be working jobs and not having a career in such jobs as working on minimum wage or just above for the rest of their lives.

What's your thoughts?

Yes.

I went back and got my degree at age 38, hoping to learn something.

I did learn I enjoyed economics, and it’s now a part of my daily life.

As for the rest of the degree…. My class’s experience was: You are hand held through the entire thing, there’s a lot of working on your own and in small groups, but only if you don’t start the work do you get left behind. The lecturers range from superb to awfull. No one who attends classes/lectures fails, they get a 2:2.

in the end it was a piece of paper for me for he depts to tick a box with. It gave me some comfort that when the govt was angling for 50% of school leavers to go get one - that if I ever was made redundant, I’d not be less on paper because of said hr tickbox, even though I’d have decades more experience.

do I regret getting it - no

did I ever actually use it - no, except for a very basic/general module on economics which is now a bit of a passion of mine. It did give me a bit of extra underpinning theory - but nothing that was not in a book I could have read myself.

what other lessons did i learn from it - how worthless it truly is. I’m sure my Uni ranks lower than others, and I know certain uni’s / courses open doors…. None of that mattered to me by just having it.