Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think just because you have a degree does not make you superior to those who don't?

118 replies

carocaro · 24/03/2010 22:59

Two ladies I know, one lawyer and one scientist.

I am also a PROFESSIONAL in the creative field, with no degree, a route I chose on purpose.

We are all professional, but is one automatically better than the other? They seem to think so and have said as much. Of course you can only get to be the above via Uni.

In my mind, you can't compare most jobs, like chalk and cheese eg: truck driver V nurse, creative director V charity worker, we all have our own sills set and talent for jobs, but why do SOME think a degree makes them better?

Your thoughts ladies?

OP posts:
GrimmaTheNome · 24/03/2010 23:04

Well if the scientist only has one degree she's probably not at the top of her field, is she?

BrahmsThirdRacket · 24/03/2010 23:06

YANBU, you can't really compare the talent required to do different jobs

Fibilou · 24/03/2010 23:06

Ridiculous. DH and I don't have degrees and have a far higher household income than any of our dual-graduate-income friends

Nettiespagetti · 24/03/2010 23:06

I have a degree and am definately better than everyone else because of it

For some professions it is a neccessity but for others life experience is a necessity and a great work ethic!! Don't think anyone is better than anyone else just vos have bitta paper saying they are qualified!

StewieGriffinsMom · 24/03/2010 23:08

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

RedRedWine1980 · 24/03/2010 23:08

No its all boswelox really.
I am doing nursing and doing the diploma route, however several in the group have opted to do the degree route.
Makes no odds to me at all we will all start on the same wage. And we had mock job interviews the other day and I was offered the 'job' but none of the degree route girls were so it goes to show it doesnt make anyone 'better'

fernie3 · 24/03/2010 23:09

YANBU I have a degree and my husband left school with NO GCSE passes above grade C (I think his highest grade was somthing like an E lol). He has always been the one to bring in money, he is more confident and has more drive than I ever had so a degree makes no difference!

wastwinsetandpearls · 24/03/2010 23:11

While I agree with the OP that having a degree does not make you a better person i have to say to Fibilou that earning a high wage is no indicator of your real worth as a person. Some people do not really care what they earn as long as there is food on the table

rowingcah · 24/03/2010 23:11

I have 2 degrees - does that make me superior to both of them? YANBU. I work with an team of people without degrees - experience and aptitude is far more important in my line of work (IT). I would imagine it is the same in your field.

Fibilou · 24/03/2010 23:14

Being a graduate is often linked with higher earning potential, wastwinsetandpearls. This is not, in my experience, reality.

And good luck to those people who don't care what they earn "as long as there is food on the table". I am not one of them.

gaelicsheep · 24/03/2010 23:14

Playing devil's advocate here, but strictly speaking you are not a professional unless you need to be a member of a self-regulating professional body in order to practice. Your scientist friend is quite possibly not a professional either. So really the lawyer friend can claim to be superior to both of you...

It also rather depends on the degree. Does a degree in golf science make someone superior to the next person?

RedRedWine1980 · 24/03/2010 23:15

My Dads late work colleague's daughter was one of the most academic people in her University and won several awards for being so academic- however she was as brainless as an old goat and didn't even know what happened to fireworks once they had gone up in their air- she pressumed they landed on the moon or something

chitchat07 · 24/03/2010 23:16

Just respond with a "well you chose a career where you had to be taught everything (your degree) and can look up anything you want in those 100s of books you reference constantly, but I chose a field in which I had to rely on my own natural talent - I'd say that means I have far more innate skill than you" - or somesuch.

Oh and I have 2 degrees to my name and have taught at Uni. Given the calibre of some graduates and degrees - having a degree to your name is definitely not the be all and end all!!!!

MaryMotherOfCheeses · 24/03/2010 23:17

Ask them to define "better"

toosoft · 24/03/2010 23:17

A degree does not make anyone superior.

wastwinsetandpearls · 24/03/2010 23:18

The OP asked if having a degree makes you superior to other people which it does not, neither does earning a higher wage.

mumblechum · 24/03/2010 23:21

I'm a lawyer and don't have a degree. Qualified as a legal executive over 5 years whilst working full time, initially in a factory.

Loads of people I know have degrees and are SAHMs whose kids are in secondary school and haven't had a job for 14 years.

I earn a reasonable whack, they earn nothing, and I don't think they're in any way superior.

mumblechum · 24/03/2010 23:22

at RedRedWine's acquaintance

pithyslicker · 24/03/2010 23:22

I agree with wastwinsetandpearls about money, I don't think wealth is an indication of worth as a person. I'm studying for a degree and I don't think it would make me superior to anyone when (if) I finish it.

QQQ · 24/03/2010 23:26

Not at all. You should also point out to your friend you do not need a degree to become a solicitor, you can work and study to become a Legal Executive with ILEX and then do another 2 years or so to qualify as a solicitor. TBH not much point unless you want to be a partner, the firms I worked for much preferred the ILEX route as they got someone who was learning on the job and knew a lot more after their years of study than someone finishing uni on a trainging contract. Also not much diff in salaries I was paid a lot more than some solicitors and less than some totally unqualified people who had many many years experience. Working practice, knowledge and experience was much more important. Your friends are talking piffle.

gaelicsheep · 24/03/2010 23:27

I don't honestly think a degree makes you superior. But I really really don't think that high earnings make you superior. Some people do completely pointless jobs that they hate simply because they pay well - others (myself included) would consider that a fate worse than death!

GrimmaTheNome · 24/03/2010 23:27

I have a suspicion that anyone who thinks about whether they are superior to anyone else isn't.

lilacclaire · 24/03/2010 23:29

I am hoping to study for a degree next year, but am definetly one of those people who only care about having food on the table.
Im doing it because its something im really into.
I certainly don't think it makes you better than anyone else, I know some very 'intelligent' people who are thick as pig shit as redredwine has stated.

BarryKent · 24/03/2010 23:32

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

UnseenAcademicalMum · 24/03/2010 23:32

Gaelicsheep, many scientists are members of professional bodies, e.g. royal society of chemistry, institute of biology, royal pharmaceutical society of great Britain, institute of biomedical science etc etc etc. OK, not all memberships are mandatory e.g. RSC, but some are i.e registration with the IBMS is mandatory for HPC registered biomedical scientists. (Not to mention HPC registration by itself).

Finally though, if being a graduate is linked to higher earning potential I'd LOVE to know what happened to my earnings in comparison with my degree-less banker neighbour . Somehow, I'm not the better off. Ah well.