To think you can be well educated without a degree?

[Birdylade]

I left school very young although I always did very well academically. I don't have a degree although almost everyone else in my family does and this makes me feel intellectually inferior. I have young DC's but spend a lot of time reading and have a real thirst for knowledge, just no time, or more importantly money, to do a degree.

I like to think I am well educated, albeit through self-education, but I find I do get judged for not having a degree. Is it unreasonable to consider myself well educated without a university degree?

Two of my friends don't have a degree and are very smart.... I left sch at 16 and didn't do my degree until my late 20s - I have come across quite a few idiots with degrees - so my conclusion is you don't need to be smart to get a degree and you can certainly be smart without one

I think you can be well educated without a degree. Some people would consider themselves well educated because they went to 'certain' schools.

And just because you have a degree it doesn't make you well educated either. I know of many people who have fluked their way through 'non-academic' degrees, gaining a 3rd class degree with the use of wikipedia and cans of stella.

I agree with you op.

Of course you can. And badly educated with a degree. In the end, an education is what you make of it: universities can supply the means, but they cannot (and should not) do the work.

Yes, of course you can. Going to university is one way of pursuing your education, but it is certainly not the only way.

And having a university degree does not automatically mean that you are well educated IMO.

Many of the greatest minds in history did not have a degree. The problem is with you really, as your inferiority complex is supported internally. People will judge you on employment terms because it's an easy differentiator. The difficult part is getting to interview where natural intellect comes across. The easy solution to that is to get a degree ;)

Anyone who thinks 3 years of study automatically makes you well educated can safely be ignored.

YANBU. I didn't have a degree until I was 45! My mother and grandparents did not have degrees but are/were exceptionally well educated. I work with many people, especially those under 40, who have two or three degrees and they may be well qualified but they are certainly not well educated. Many cannot string a grammatically correct sentence together either orally or in writing.

The worm is turning and the world is changing OP. At last the penny is dropping that a worthless degree from a worthless institution is worth nothing compared to excellent foundation and life skills.

Of course you can. My DMum left school at 14, for collage. She learnt book keeping and got a good job.
She and a friend befriended their local theatre box office, they got returns to see a huge range of stuff.
She reads, she listens to the radio, she knows far more politics, world and financial affairs and more culture than I ever will.
She inherited a few shares from her Mother and understands the stock market and doesn't glaze over at the business news. She watches working lunch for pleasure.

I may have a postgrad Biology degree, but the above sends me running for the hills.

I think you can be really smart and knowledgeable without a degree. I'm not sure it makes sense to say you are well educated though.

I spent years reading in a subject before finally going back and getting a degree in it, so I'm familiar with both experiences. I think I knew a lot before the degree, but after the degree I was able to properly analyse and think about what I knew. It is a different kind of education.

But do try not to feel inferior! I'm sure your thirst for knowledge shines through and nobody thinks you're intellectually inferior.

wondering what a worthless degree is

yanbu, totally agree

dh is evidence of this. really shite education at school, did some vocational courses(cars or engineering??) at college then worked in a factory as a sheet metal worker for many years.

over the years he has done certificates and courses in IT, worked his way up etc. it took him over 10 years in the industry but now he has just got a job at microsoft with a 6 figure salary.
all the people he has worked with over the years with their university IT degrees who looked down their nose at him are green with envy as they work in their softwear houses no one has ever heard of.

Of course you can. Equally, there are people who have obtained a degree who aren't.

Yes you're right OP. And it works the other way as well, I know plenty of people with degrees who are very ignorant.

You might find it interesting to do an OU short course?

I tend to think of a degree as indicating a depth of knowledge about one, often narrow, subject; e.g. metallurgy. Well-educated, on the other hand, indicates to me a breadth of knowledge, spanning many subjects. So it's depth versus breadth.

You can have a degree, yet not be well-educated. You can be well-educated without a degree. And you can be both. Or neither.

I agree with dreamingbohemian

I think you can be really smart and knowledgeable without a degree. I'm not sure it makes sense to say you are well educated though.

You can be smart and knowledgeable and well-read without a degree, and that may in some cases be more valuable than having a degree, but it doesn't mean you are "educated".

yanbu.

Mum never went to Uni but she's informed and very bright.

Whereas I know people who have been to Uni who don't seem to know much about the world, or even care.

But that might just be the age difference.

YANBU.

The theory that education requires formal education is a Patriarchal construct designed to keep people in their 'class.' It's utterly offensive and silly.

YANBU

I finally completed my degree two years ago at the age of 41 (I started it at 18 but quickly discovered university and I weren't meant for each other). I only did it because I wanted to be a teacher and couldn't do it without a degree. I don't know anything now that I didn't know before that's going to be relevant to my teacher training but those were the hoops I had to jump through

Agree with Whereyouleftit - which covers all bases nicely. Anecdotally, of the people I know/knew who are by far the most analytical, infomed, curious and questioning types, there is a 50/50 split re having a degree.

*Quoting BusinessTrills

"I agree with dreamingbohemian

I think you can be really smart and knowledgeable without a degree. I'm not sure it makes sense to say you are well educated though.

You can be smart and knowledgeable and well-read without a degree, and that may in some cases be more valuable than having a degree, but it doesn't mean you are "educated"."*

Surely education can come from a number of sources not just a University/College or whoever else is handing out degrees these days.

You can be educated by a book, by a conversation with a friend, by a You Tube video. The quality of the education determines whether you are 'Well Educated' and that can come from any number of sources so of course you can be Well Educated without a degree.

I know essentially we are arguing the same point and it is semantics but I think it does make sense to say you are well educated even if you don't have a degree.

I find it sad that people are judged on the formal education they may have finished receiving 10, 15, 20 years ago and not enough credit is given to those who spend time learning all the time.

I would also say that the some people who have a degree have specialised knowledge in one area and are 'well educated' on a single subject and are not what I would consider well educated at all.

Worthwhile academic degrees I would happily fund £9k per year for my children: Law, Medicine, Chemistry, History, Economics, PPE, French (or any other language), Classics, Physics, Geography, English, etc.

Worthwhile vocational degrees: Fashion and Design, Art, Engineering, Pharmacy, Nursing (although a degree should not be necessary), Teaching, Horticulture/Farming/Land Management, Architecture, etc..

Degrees I would refuse to fund for my DC: Media Studies, Film Studies, Sociology, Psychology (unless at one of very few elite universities), Human Resources, etc..

The lists are not exhaustive.

If a young person or adult is not intelligent enought to study for an academic degree at a university that has always been a university then in my respectful opinion they are barely worth the paper they are written on and many of those entering work with such degrees are not in my opinion as well rounded as good A'Level students thirty years ago.

No point having a degree at all if in a professional letter you use phrases such as "please telephone myself", "if you was considering the offer", and verbally "I aint going to", "they was late", etc., etc.. I don't care how many degrees a person has. If they cannot use the English language properly they are not well educated. The tragedy is that all too often they think are and five or ten years into their careers they wonder why they hit a glass ceiling.

"Educated" means having been taught. It's not the same as being smart and well-informed and curious. There are plenty of morons who are educated.

Yes v much so, depends what you want to achieve through education though.

I don't even consider wether a person has or hasn't been to university before making a decision about thier brain smarts. To me, intelligence has a LOT more to do with how you conduct yourself, your ability to engage in different conversations and your leel of interest in the world around you.

Anyone judging anyone purely on a degree is probably a bit thick. I have never met anyone like this though and if I did I'd not want much to do with them. They can go and be smart all by themselves.