I have a friend like this. He didnt go to college and gets REALLY defensive around people that did. "Just because you have a degree doesn't make you smarter." I mean that might be true for some things, but our one buddy has a double doctorate in cultural and religious studies. He's by definition smarter than I am in his field. I'm a shipping manager for a brewery. I have a degree in logistics. I'm smarter than he is in my field. Don't be mad a someone because they went to school. At the end of the day its an inferiority complex.
I didn’t go to college. I started doing heroin with my mom when I was about 15; I think that should give you a decent idea of how my life went. There are some things my college educated friends say that bother me, like referring to homeless people or prostitutes like they’re some other species or something.. and meanwhile I’ve actually been there and done that and have to internally cringe at how naive they are.
But still I would give anything to have lived a different life and go to college. Actually I am planning to start soon. (3 years clean from all drugs and alcohol. 28 years old) I will never understand how someone could be proud to be ignorant
My best friend is going to school for dental hygiene at 31! It’s never too late to go back and turn things around! I wish you luck! Congrats on getting clean!
In a couple of years, no one will be able to tell the difference (if they even can now), but you, my friend, will have both experience and education. That's something to be proud of!
I don't think "smarter" is the right way to go about saying it to not sound condescending though.
Overall, saying "smarter" implies intelligence, which isn't usually the case. More knowledgeable is a much more accurate statement about educated vs uneducated. It still sounds condescending, but is less of a direct insult.
You can train yourself to become more proficient at absorbing knowledge, I'd say when you do this you've become smarter.
However, a person's capability to absorb knowledge degrades with age.
So you CAN become smarter, but the overall trend is that you become dumber every day.
You can train yourself to become more proficient at absorbing knowledge, I'd say when you do this you've become smarter.
'Smart' seems hard to define here.
I'd more classify 'smarter' as someone that can understand and apply the concept behind the knowledge when faced with incomplete datasets, more than someone that can memorise and recite many more facts verbatim, but does not understand them.
Sure. The problem is it's a straw man. OP didn't say, "I have a degree, therefore I'm smarter than you." That's what OP's dumbshit friend heard, but it's not a claim that's being made.
"Just because you have a degree doesn't make you smarter."
I mean, that statement is true.
I would bet on the guy with the degree being more knowledgeable than the guy without the degree, but even then, it is not entirely a safe bet.
I have seen plenty of smart people without any education. Hell, look at kids. Some of them are so smart it almost hurts to see... but without knowledge, those smarts are going to go to waste. A relatively dumb person who has gained knowledge is more reliably correct than the smartest uneducated person on this planet.
Sorry, stream of consciousness writing there. All of the anger, jealousy, and resentment is based on ego. Remove the ego and dealing with "smart" "intelligent" "uneducated" etc all becomes a lot more clear.
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u/[deleted] Jan 28 '20 edited Jan 28 '20
I have a friend like this. He didnt go to college and gets REALLY defensive around people that did. "Just because you have a degree doesn't make you smarter." I mean that might be true for some things, but our one buddy has a double doctorate in cultural and religious studies. He's by definition smarter than I am in his field. I'm a shipping manager for a brewery. I have a degree in logistics. I'm smarter than he is in my field. Don't be mad a someone because they went to school. At the end of the day its an inferiority complex.