To be pissed off that people who are not academic are branded as thick!

[teamcullen]

Why is it that people/children who are not academically clever are constantly branded as Thick, stupid or the underclass of society.

A person can leave school at 16 with little qualifications and work every day of their lives in McDonalds or a shop or as a labourer. They pay taxes. They contribute to society. Yet people constantly make comments on how you must be thick to work in those proffessions.

There are options in schools for children to take vocational courses, but I am always seeing comments like "No way Id let my DC take a deploma or vocational course." Or those subjects are only for the thick kids!

I understand that if a child is likely to go to uni, they need to take the traditinal route of GCSEs and A levels, but the world ecomony would quickly cease if everybody took this route.

Just because somebody is not academic, does not constitute being thick. Creative skills, patience, common sence, empathy and listening skills to name just a few are things that may not come naturatly to those with letters after their name, but are needed in many proffessions.

If a child who is not academic goes into the world at 16 and works hard in a job which needs no or little qualifications is it not unreasonable to treat tham and their proffession with a bit of respect.

well, obviously, the degree you are doing runnybottom has a purpose to it with an end goal...

a lot of people - including myself - worked 4yrs to obtain a sound degree to come out the other end and realise it does not really make 'one' stand out

Anyway, my point being, the original op seems to me to be a bit off the mark, as to a lot of people a generic airy fairy farty degree - like my own I hasten to add - does not set you apart as clevererererer than the others sitting outside the interview room!

What shows intelligence is everything else - speed to learn on the job, to be able to string a sentence together, social competence bla bla bla...

Anyone who thinks degrees are worthless, should try applying for jobs where a degree is expected without possessing one...

They don't even throw your CV away. They have a computer to do that.

Don't know on the MaccyD's front. I do know that a few of the kids that I teach would be chuffed to absolute bits to get a job there...not because they are thick, but many of them don't realise how bright they could be/are because of the environment they are gowing up in. As such, this type of job is what they expect/are happy with because they don't know they can aspire to more.

Lequeen, what is an RG university? How many are there? Which one did you go to?

Excuse my ignorance when it comes down to acronyms (sp?) getting a bit old.

Russell Group universities.

List is here

I went to Southampton, but when I went I hadn't heard of the Russell Group!

LeQueen, I never said the two were mutually exclusive. I don't agree with the argument that highly educated people are less likely to have 'common sense' or good social skills.

millymollymoo Thanks for being so rude about my spelling and general thickness, but to answer your remarks about my degree.

I havent actually got a degree and I never said I had one. I said I gained good marks while I was there. I dropped out of uni after the second year.

I dropped out because I had quite enough to deal with in RL and I decided to give up on my dreams for the sake of my family.

I was doing a degree in Child Nursing, and yes I did find the academic work hard. However I was very good at the practical side of nursing and if the deploma option was availible in the uni I was studying at, I would have taken it, and probably would have suceeded.

One thing though, the best and most knowledgeable nurses walking around Alder Hey Hospital or any other hospital for that matter, are not always the ones with degrees.

Also there are many qualified nurses working as checkout girls in Tesco.

I think it is a good idea that 'new' nurses are required to have more quals, medicine is becoming increasingly advanced and nurses are getting more and more responsibility piled on them. That doesn't make it a career that requires traditional, 'bookish' intelligence by any means. (What it does mean is that experienced, good nurses should be paid more but that is another thread...)

You don't need a degree to be intelligent, as many of the degrees available from so many institutions proves...but you do need to be intelligent to be considered academically intelligent, which is what the original post referred to.

The only thing that worries me about diploma's is that they can be limiting in terms of future options and employers/universities aren't really on board with them. I certainly don't think that they are for 'thick' kids.

I thought that a lot of gardners intelligence stuff was now largely ignored/discredited?

ps. I've studied at 2 RG uni's - but I'm as thick as two short planks!!!!

MrsC There definatly is a place for degrees in nursing, especially if you want to progress through the Grades. Nurses who did the deploma or equivalent have the option to gain degree status after they have qualified. Although this can be an expensive route.

Degree status is becomming more widely expected for specialist nurses or ward sisters etc. These roles have added responibilities and require more knowledge and studying for a degree certainly gives good solid foundations.

Personally, I feel I would have made a better nurse if I didnt have to worry about backing up all I had learnt with references to this that and the other. Im more of a kinetic learner. I also think that you learn more if you enjoy what your doing.

One of the orthopaedic surgeons once told me he was bottom of the class in school until he did human biology which he found fasinating, hence he found his vocation. Parents really like him because he has the rare ability (for a doctor) to explain things in layman's terms.

Actually, I thought Maccy D's always had a good Management Training Programme! It's funny because I worked for 17 years in the UK, in postitions of increasing responsibility. When I came to Belgium, aged 37/38, certain companies would not give me an interview because I did not have a degree in something. Despite a very solid CV and evidence of extra study. After nearly 20 years in full time work!!!

They do have a good management programme, it gives a good structure and opportunities to what could otherwise be a pretty 'dead-end# job.

With respect teamcullen you cannot spell diploma how exactly do you think that installs confidence your ability to spot if the prescribing Dr has put a decimal point in the wrong place because she/he has been working a long shift, a regular occurrence in my experience.

The best most experienced nurses my not have degree's but they do have a level of intelligence that shines through in academic and kinetic learning and harsh as this may seem maybe you just weren't up to the job.

With respect teamcullen you cannot spell diploma how exactly do you think that installs confidence your ability to spot if the prescribing Dr has put a decimal point in the wrong place because she/he has been working a long shift, a regular occurrence in my experience.

The best most experienced nurses my not have degree's but they do have a level of intelligence that shines through in academic and kinetic learning and harsh as this may seem maybe you just weren't up to the job.

Apologies for double post and as somebody will no doubt point out my A key is stuck missing out a vital A in may, not my.

MMM
Picking up other people for typos seems a weeny bit hypocritical.

With respect Milly, it's instills, not installs.

Couldn't help it

It's actually instils according to google
But either way I am the one with the degree

No Milly, it's instills.

Not according to the collins dictionary I have in front of me it's not.

I've said it to myself many times. Some of the most stupid people I have ever met, I met at Oxford.

You are right- instill is the US spelling.

I'd keep that dictionary handy if I were you

You are just a rude horribe person who is obviously a bully Millymollymoo Say what you want about me, I really dont care and wont respond to any more of your posts.

And as for not being up to the job:

My Dad was dying of cancer
My DD had just lost a friend (age 10) in an RTA
My DS was suspected to have Juvinile Arthritis
To top it off my relationship was going through a bad patch.
So when I say I gave it up for personal reasons, they were the reasons.

So yes it is harsh! Writing it down brings it all back and makes me feel sick. But why I have to explain myself to you I dont know!

horrible !!!