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

[carocaro]

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?

They are better than you...at getting degree's anyway

YABU and just looking for a bit of 'lets kick the brainboxes' action.

I don't believe for one minute that your friends have told you that they are better than you. What were their words?

These threads always bring out the same responses ie I've got a degree but I'm thick as mince or I don't have a degree and I earn loads so ha ha.

Either way, are we saying that being thick or not earning loads make somebody inferior?

If not then they are hardly decent arguments against the 'degrees make you superior' theory are they.

I've never met anybody in my life who thinks having a degree makes you superior. I've got two and I don't use either of them.

Only on MN are we faced endlessly with these claims that the world is full of people who think that people who earn less than them/ have lesser qualifications/ have smaller houses etc are their inferiors.

In RL people just get on with life and know fine well that these are not indicators of a person's worth on this planet.

I SO agree with Morris ( and I don't have a degree)
BUT I do know two people who do think that having degrees makes them better than people who don't. But they also think that their child is brighter than mine and that makes their child better. And that they went to a better school than me and that makes them better too. ASnd that they have a bigger car than us so that makes them better.
Ergo- they are as OP descibes but are wankers - so hardly supporting a general picture of degree types being snotty.

I think the OP could have just posted "I know some wankers"

I've (almost) got three degrees, of progressive 'status'. I'm poor, have a crap job I hate, can't afford my own home, and haven't been on holiday for two years. Sure, I know what a gerund is and what to do with it, but it sure ain't giving me any social standing!

That being said, I AM better than people that can't make satisfactory short-crust pastry

Also it doesn't work both ways does it. I've seen lots of people on here who are going through a tough patch financially etc and have been made to feel shit by some judgmental person, and who come here and say 'What that snotty cow doesn't know is that actually I have 2 degrees, a Phd' etc as if to say actually, I'm not as shit as people think I am.

In those cases the response is universally 'Hell yeah, you tell them, how dare they make you feel crap, you've got a degree' etc.

So obviously a degree must count for something or we wouldn't cite it when we feel vulnerable, and people wouldn't agree with us when we do.

MZ isn't it that people who are completely down are amde to feel it's their own fault

I'm probably guilty of some you've said but what I mean is people whoa ssume I never tried to so anything, my degree as evidence that actually I didnt just choose to leave school at the first op and sit on the dole, but other things got in the way of a planned career.

this is like weird inverted snobbery.a holier than thou competition

oft demonstrated by the "i have no degree.knit my own tampons.exfoliate daily with a brillo pad.i am goddess who eschews working.i decry avaricious pursuit of money and mortgage....all because my husband works like a dog 90hours a week so i can do sweet fa and moan on mn"

the whole idea of generic "superiority" is completely horrendous. "All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights" and all that.

some people might be better, (or worse) at a particular thing (passing exams, making pastry, doing backflips on a trampoline) but it doesn't make them a superior person.

I am a godess who eschews working but my knitting is crap. My tampons are macramed. That sometimes makes me moan but often I just bite my lip.

So would you say than that your degree is worth something and you feel rightly proud of it, clarissimo?

I wasn't singling you out btw, I can't remember anybody specific who has done what I said above. It was more of a general observation.

It just looks like all the judgement goes one way on this subject. You mention that you don't want people to assume that you left school and sat on the dole, fair play to you I wouldn't want people to think that of me either. But the MN mantra is that leaving school and going on the dole are both absolutely equal options and anybody who says otherwise is a judgemental snotty cow etc, how dare they, snobby gits etc.

My point being that I'm not allowed to say 'hurrah for me I've got great qualifications' as that is considered very wrong, but if somebody with other issues says 'but it's not fair, I've got a degree actually' then that is considered to be fine.

Also where do people get off saying 'my SIL has a degree but she's actually thick' when there is absolutely no other circumstance where calling people thick on here is acceptable. What about thick people who don't have any qualifications? Can we call them thick too? Or do we have to dance around and make a big deal of how emotionally intelligent they are, how great they are at reverse parking etc.

But Hatwoman some people DO believe that degrees/Phd etc DO make them superior. I know someone online who regularly quoted her 'I've got a PHd' line as a means of belittling the experiences and opinions of other people. She actually didn't have a PHd at all but I think it demonstrated that for some people (and for her in her imaginary life) that degrees DO confer status and superiority. I think that if you have to tell people how many degrees, diplomas you've got, then it suggests either innate snobbery or heaving insecurity - or perhaps both!

I have 2 degrees and I can reverse park

i was desperate to get my degrees.1st in family to go to uni.grew up in a scheme.it means everything to me.i am really glad i did so.it has fulfilled me personally and professionally

Oh god no MZ didnt think I was being singled out- not as if half of people know me post namechange anyway despite how often I advertise it LOL

Does it mean anything? It means I have tried I think which IMO is everything whether that led you to be a Dean of Oxford or cleaner of the local loo. Primarily though as someone dependant on benefits for reeasons not of her own making, it is my defense mechanism agianst a guilt complex that constantly tells me I am a drain- I may be but I tried my very hardest not to be IYSWIM?

I don't care what soemone does or how many quals they ahve as long as they had no intention of only ever being a drain on resources. That's where I am constantly scared of being filed in people's minds.

I have a degree, a good one too. None of my friends had any further education at all. What difference does it make? We're all brilliant at our main job - Being A Mum.

Mind you, I did like it once when dh's co-worker made comments about 'oh what a shame you don't have a career, stuck at home with a baby, wouldn't you like to have a job' etc. I told him that after 3 years of college and 3 years of uni, it was nice to stay home, and the degree would always be there if I needed it.

Shut him right up.

I agree with Morris, if I can manage to be serious for a moment. My degrees mean I am better than most of the population in my particular field. They do not make me better at reverse parking - that was living in London and wanting to park my car in the same postcode as I lived in that honed that particular skill.

Yes, if you have a degree in Maths from Cambridge I'm afraid I do think that makes you academically superior to someone who has a degree in golf management from a new university.

Not necessarily nicer, harder-working, more emotionally mature, more likely to succeed but more academic, yes.

But if you boasted about it or used it to put someone down you'd just be a jerk.

Me too Sm

My ex used to tell me I was too stupid to have a degree: when I got ine it was very tempting to visit and shove a copy where it shouldn't be shoved (except on MN on a friday anyway).

And similar to every t4eacher who assumed that being poor and from the estates meant I couldn't do it.

I am finding my MA doesn't mean that (am a year in to a 3 year PT course): I have exorcised those demons, the MA is about me and what I care about now

I don't think anything at all makes one person superior over another, whether it be a degree or what they earn. I have a degree - big deal. My sister doesn't but she got 9 A's in her O'levels and 5 A's in her Highers and didn't want to go to Uni though she's much smarter than I am, and earns more than I do (the cow).

But abraid would it make you academically superior to soemone else accepted for same degree who just chose to go elsewhere (for me it was accepted at Bristol but rents to high for family accomodation)?

And crucially, how would you know based upon the information of final degree alone? Am not expecting employers to give me same status btw: I know that, and indeed my MA will make up a lot for that. but personally it makes a diference IYSWIM?

And also, does my degree make me academically superior to my dad who got a grammar place, but had his Mum say no and send him to modern because the nother 14 kids didn't pass their 11+? I cannot see it does, you see. Just means I had better ops, not better talent.

of course certain things (inc degrees) confer status and are considered to be superior.

foolish to state nothing makes anyone more superior.misguided and twee.in rl such judgments are made.maybe not always right or fair, but certain things are considered advantageous

the battle is in acknowledging what socio-economic and educational factors do convey advantage and then trying to increase access and uptake by disadvantaged groups

A lot of people without a degree can have a chip on their shoulder. This can be rather tedious to deal with because in effect they want to put you down to make themselves feel better. A tad nasty in my opinion.

OP the truth is that people are complex and look for reasons to quiten that nagging voive sayoing you are not a very good perosn, esp. if they are inclined towards internalisation of problems etc

So some will use whatever they can grab at to prove their self worth

I find that assuming people who have such a way of expressing themselves either are really insecure or very lucky (my sister who assumes that becuase everything was easy for her (AKA she married rich that its the same for anyone)helps assign these comments to the file marked 'ignore' which is where they belong

Chipping in my two peneth on whether a degree makes you academically superior, I have a good degree and post grad qualifications which are essential for my science profession, however..... I couldn't tell you the dates of the world wars, any queens or kings of England and I don't even understand what nouns, verbs or adjectives are (if I had square brackets on this Swedish computer at this point I would do an embarrassed face!)

but your job isnt to know nouns etc.it is to have a thorough rigorous knowledge and ability to understand,analyse and critically appraise scientific knowledge

so frankly nouns and their application isnt an indicator of your academic ability.has very little bearing

your science degree is an indicator of your academic ability to pass at degree level and apply it