to be jealous of people with a degree?

[aconfession0]

I didn't go to uni I left school as soon as I could and started working and for the first while I was just happy to be earning money but in recent years I have felt more and more envious of people with degrees and post grad qualifications especially people who have studied things like philosophy, art, literature etc. It just makes me feel stupid not to have a degree sometimes I am actually quite resentful and envious of those better educated than me.

I have looked into going back but its impossible at this point in my life, I could do one later as sort of proof to myself I could do it but its not the same as starting out with one and building a life long career and I hardly has the focus to read a book so worry I'd struggle anyway.

My partner has a degree, he can't string a sentence together any better than I can, infact he is worse. I left school at 16. Just because someone has a degree doesn't automatically make the smarter. Don't be so hard on yourself.

I know exactly what you mean.. I have carved a career for myself through leaving college and 18 and working though.

Where I work now, it's very very unusual to not have a degree and therefore I've started studying for my Psychology degree through the OU and I'm really enjoying it. I was willing to pay for it myself, through using Student Finance but work are covering the fees in my case.

It's definitely not too late - I'm 30 in a couple of months! It does take hard work and dedication though on top of working full time.

Oh but if it is about kudos or fitting in with intellectuals or something, then don't bother. I don't think anyone really knows what structuralism is - not really.

I'd like to make better money but it is a lot about me wanting to be properly educated. I went to s rubbish school and my parents did not support my education at all the just kept saying get a job, get a job so I did at the time it was fair enough but I wish I had been encouraged to consider university more. Not being educated makes me feel worthless sometimes.

I think if you don't have a degree you could get a student loan to do p/t OU in the evenings. Student Loan I don't think 'counts' for mortgages.
There's also free taster courses available on OU.
Or there's coursera (also online), some courses are free and some (where you get a certificate) are about £50-100.

FWIW I have 2.5 degrees and can sound clever in abstract/'intellectual' conversations but my career's never really gone anywhere and I always feel 'stupid' when other people talk about their responsible jobs.

32 year old 'her from the council estate' here too, although it was retail. Baby at 18. Last year I went to my graduation ceremony from the OU, and now I'm working as a bookkeeper with my own little business alongside, that I will eventually grow.

Why can't you study alongside working? I did it as a single parent while working full time, take the loans/bursaries offered and crack on. Yes it's hard, but at least you'll have done something rather than regretting.

I can really recommend the business studies degree, you can specialise in something so you've got a broad degree with something of interest. I did mine with accounting, but law, french, politics or economics were all options- I imagine that any of those would be very academic.

OP, I have just finished my OU degree. I studied the equivalent of full time (120 credits a year) whilst also holding down a full time job. Like you, I wanted a degree for the sense of personal achievement and to broaden my education. It was the best decision I ever made.

You can take as long as you need - some people only want to do a 30 credit module per year, and there are access courses too. I am more than happy to help if you have any questions

If you just want to learn things, do some of the free Open Learn and FutureLearn courses. I have completed courses in forensic psychology, identifying the dead and Political Ideology through those sites, and they are just as academic as my actual uni course.

I empathise OP. I left school after GCSEs. I sometimes feel envious of people who are more educated than me. It doesn't really make sense as I have a good job, fairly decent salary and I am certainly intellectual enough to have conversations, debates and voice my opinions with people.
I've spent much of my adult life with an insatiable thirst for knowledge. I love on to different topics all the time and learn little bits. I'm fascinated by most subjects and love learning new things but I wouldn't have the staying power to get a degree. I'd get bored half way through probably as I have the attention span of a goldfish. It's just one of the many, many things I dislike about myself.

Thanks for all the advise, I need to really think about it for the future but I just don't see my husband being supportive if I apply for something like Philosophy or Fine Art which are the things I really want to do. It would need to be career focused to earn me a better wage and it thats all its for then a pro qualification would do.

You don’t need a degree to be educated, either. I know plenty of stupid people with degrees.

If you are interested in a particular subject then read a book on it, do a free Future Learn online course, go to evening classes.

Pining for a degree and not doing anything about it is not going to get you anywhere.

I did a degree mainly to prove to myself I was capable of it and I was. I have never used it for it’s intended purpose but it opened doors for better paid jobs.

TheGlaikit they soun fascinating
And they are free?? How long did they take?

I teach access students who are going to progress the following year to uni, my oldest student this year was 66! He had finished his long army career, his DC had grown and he wanted to pursue his interest in archeology. I thought he was utterly inspiring and it is proof that anyone of any age can succeed in life and follow their ambitions.

I wasn’t a mature student per se but I studied at uni in my early twenties after having my three DC young. It wasn’t easy by any stretch of the imagination but I am so glad I did it. You will never regret going to university, well not unless you choose the wrong degree for you anyway. I say go for it. It is always possible, even if it is difficult. Some choose to do OU to fit it around their job and family.

now its not all it used to be at uni and yes the costs are awful its just a pride thing to just feel a bit stupid in comparison to people with an education, I was hoping others could empathise?

Education and intelligence are two completely separate things.

If you feel undereducated for your potential, and it’s upsetting you, do everything you can to put it right. (Can you recognise finances at all between you? Have you looked at student loan amounts?)

But don’t waste emotion being jealous. It’s a pointless emotion.

ethel, thanks for responding I think you kind of get it. I dislike myself and who I am too in many ways. I want to be a different person and have had a different background and up bringing but I can't change that, I can't go back and have music lessons or help with homework as a child. I can't have new parents who read books or were open and interested in the world who travelled or cared about my education. I just went out followed the old pattern.

Perhaps I should just focus on giving DC the best oppertunities I can and hope they go to university.

I think I used to be jealous of the fact that they had proof (as I saw it) that they weren't UNintelligent. And that was down to having had a series of jobs where the bosses and managers treated me very disrespectfully. I'm happy now so feeling it less, even though all of my colleagues have masters and are probably rolling their eyes at how little they earn for their troubles. I will do a degree in philosophy at some point because I want to, not for any other reason. I think it would have been my ego driving me a decade ago.

Don't be like my uncle who did a law degree in his 50s I think and he is still the most judgmental, uneducated, small town, bitter little bollox to ever stand there tutting with his nostrils in the air. He should have done a course like sociology or psychology maybe, might have made him a less unpleasant person but I can see that it was ego that drove him to get a degree later in life.

Me, SIL and two cousins all got degrees in our forties. If you really want a degree, you can get one. Go for it.

You also should never feel like a failure for not having a degree. Many idiots in the world have degrees and many intelligent people don’t. It is not a marker of your intelligence. I know idiots who have a third in something along the lines of sports science, they are hardly Stephen Hawking . Don’t beat yourself up but if you can figure a way of fitting it around work (and honestly, you really aren’t in university many hours a week at all) then do it.

Try evening classes at your local college as a starter. It might help you decide if you actually like studying. They are a lot cheaper than investing in a degree and some only require a term by term sign up. That way you could try an art or philosophy course for 12 weeks and get advice on taking it further.
I go to an evening class and love it and the people I meet there!

Yes anyone can read books but it feels like if you don't have a degree you lack the right framework for new information and even if you do understand and get the information in the book you just won't be respected because you don't have the peice of paper that has confirmed your ability to understand complex ideas. There is also the issue of people to discuss things with, at university you have seminar groups and tutorials where you get to discuss things with other people on your course or with lecturers which is in many ways probably one of the most valuable things about the university experiance. If I read a book like that now and want to talk about it people say "oh you need to get out more" or "bore off".

Frankly, very very few people who study philosophy, history of art etc, end up with a career in that subject. A good arts degree (first or 2.1) from a good university will open doors to certain graduate programmes etc, but overall I am not convinced of the career-value of an arts degree for the cast majority of people. (This is of course an entirely different from the non-monetary value that an arts degree can bring both the student and society, and science degrees are entirely different.)

But if it's the learning that you regret, then I would encourage you to study via OU, local college or try MOOCs. I have 2 science degrees but have recently been doing MOOCs from FutureLearn (many other providers available), in arts subjects that interest me. MOOCs are also a low commitment, cheap way to find out if further study is for you.

If it's the university lecture experience you're missing then find out about lectures given by leading academics at your local university. As a student I used to pop into the odd lecture from an entirely different subject area, when I knew a particularly good lecturer was to speak - Aubrey Manning, for example, on animal behaviour. I also went to philosophy lectures. Not sure if they are all open to the public, but some will be. Also local learned societies and institutions will run outreach events and public lectures.

I don't advise doing a degree in a subject in which you are not interested. Degrees last 3-4 years typically and you need to be really committed to get through. There's got to be something that drives you.

My Dad did a degree full time at his local University after he retired just for the interest and he said it was great. He did get some stupid comments about how he had now discovered he had a brain even though he had had a responsible job for years. He left school at 13 and but educated himself through reading and evening classes over the years. Don't give up on your dream.

Also some jobs just require a degree not a specific subject, so it may be possible to justify a degree on that basis

OU all the way! You are the IDEAL candidate.
If you are interested in learning about the topics you mention for their own sake, get yourself a student loan and go forth and do an OU philosophy degree or Open degree part time. Realistically it probably won’t drastivally enhance your earning power but part time and with a loan it won’t take away from your current earning power, so your partner can’t really argue with that. Life’s too short for regrets and academic study for the sheer love of it is a joy and a privilege.
(Am currently writing OU MA dissertation, PM me if you want to know more about the OU arts faculty, I’m a bit of an evangelist )