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But success in terms of a defined career path or a stable job mostly depends on your inherent drive, ambition, and self confidence level. Have NONE of these traits, and you'll be too scared to go out to look for a job. Plenty of high school grads are successful by this (my own) definition of success.
I listened to a few of the video responses, but I got bored with them. I don't think it matter what students think an educated person is.
In 75 years I have never stopped educating myself. I used the dictionary just yesterday to clear up the definition of a word I saw used (provenance as it applies to art). When I was working, I rose to the level of Director of Sales and Marketing, a title which required me to communicate with other executives in other industries.
I am an educated person, but I never went to college. There are actually a great many people like me; some have a little college, and some have none at all. We all know that the very purpose of life is to learn.
Perhaps the word "educated" is wrong, since it implies that a task is complete and need not be repeated. I have described myself as "self educated", but I actually view my education as an ongoing concern. I don't know of a word to describe what I do.
Well, there's formal education and life education.
My immediate and extended family all has more of the former than the latter. All advanced degrees. But it seems to me, most of them live in a self-imposed bubble and are not very open-minded. They are successful and intelligent but not willing to venture beyond their comfort zone. I could never have a truly open conversation with them. They have their established interests and that's that.
Then again, I fell for my ex due to his backwoods survival skills. He educated himself. I admired that so much. But before too long, his lack of formal education peeked through. Vocabulary, grammar, no humor, eventually violence, combined with XXX brand beer at drunken trailer park parties, became our undoing.
I'm not formally well educated (wish I was) but experienced a lot and am interested in a wide variety of subjects and that's what I value in another person. A bachelor's degree from a decent college seems to be the minimum. Life education equally important.
For me it's how well read someone is. Having a vast understanding of things and how things are connected and seeing the larger perspective in a lot of ways. I dont care about degrees per se.
Generally, to me, it means having a college education. But I do know some people with degrees whom I would not characterize as educated. It depends on context.
Sometimes, I do meet people with surprising breadth of knowledge, but who do not have formal classroom education. I respect those people, but might not describe them as being “educated.†I think my usage of the word is specific, but not necessarily descriptive.
A self educated person is an autodidact. This is a word i learned years ago from reading J.D. Salinger.
The first and most obvious one would be the academic education received. What did they study? How far along are they in their career?
The second one revolves around general awareness and being cultured. This also encompasses manners. I find this metric to be just as important as formal education as it involves people acquiring knowledge that goes beyond their academic pursuits.
I listened to a few of the video responses, but I got bored with them. I don't think it matter what students think an educated person is.
In 75 years I have never stopped educating myself. I used the dictionary just yesterday to clear up the definition of a word I saw used (provenance as it applies to art). When I was working, I rose to the level of Director of Sales and Marketing, a title which required me to communicate with other executives in other industries.
I am an educated person, but I never went to college. There are actually a great many people like me; some have a little college, and some have none at all. We all know that the very purpose of life is to learn.
Perhaps the word "educated" is wrong, since it implies that a task is complete and need not be repeated. I have described myself as "self educated", but I actually view my education as an ongoing concern. I don't know of a word to describe what I do.
I agree there are many like you. My dad (who'd be 80 if he were still alive) was. He had the equivalent of an 11th-grade education, he was as immigrant, and he also became very successful in sales (training manager of a major pharmaceutical company). He was a voracious reader, mostly history, and a very intelligent, well-spoken man.
Having said that, I find it fairly easy -- generally speaking -- to identify people who are university educated vs those who aren't. I don't know why exactly that is the case, but it is. It's certainly not because people who don't attend college aren't as intelligent as those who do, but there's a presentation, a curiosity, a love of learning, an ability to analyze -- there's something that gives university-educated people, generally speaking, an edge.
As a librarian, I tend to believe that reading and being a person who chooses to read widely and deeply is what ultimately makes the difference, but there's probably more to it than that.
I have 3 young adult kids, and I honestly don't care what they choose to do for a living. I only hope that they (basically) enjoy their occupations/professions, and that those professions allow them to adequately support themselves and their families, should they choose to marry and have children.
So, if they want to be hairstylists, salespeople, seamstresses, construction workers, firefighters, electricians, HVAC techs, plumbers, contractors, etc? Totally fine by me. But they're going to be university-educated hairstylists, salespeople, seamstresses, construction workers, firefighters, etc. I've made that clear to them.
Last edited by newdixiegirl; 06-13-2020 at 11:23 AM..
I agree there are many like you. My dad (who'd be 80 if he were still alive) was. He had the equivalent of an 11th-grade education, he was as immigrant, and he also became very successful in sales (training manager of a major pharmaceutical company). He was a voracious reader, mostly history, and a very intelligent, well-spoken man.
Having said that, I find it fairly easy -- generally speaking -- to identify people who are university educated vs those who aren't. I don't know why exactly that is the case, but it is. It's certainly not because people who don't attend college aren't as intelligent as those who do, but there's a presentation, a curiosity, a love of learning, an ability to analyze -- there's something that gives university-educated people, generally speaking, an edge.
As a librarian, I tend to believe that reading and being a person who chooses to read widely and deeply is what ultimately makes the difference, but there's probably more to it than that.
I have 3 young adult kids, and I honestly don't care what they choose to do for a living. I only hope that they (basically) enjoy their occupations/professions, and that those professions allow them to adequately support themselves and their families, should they choose to marry and have children.
So, if they want to be hairstylists, salespeople, seamstresses, construction workers, firefighters, electricians, HVAC techs, plumbers, contractors, etc? Totally fine by me. But they're going to be university-educated hairstylists, salespeople, seamstresses, construction workers, firefighters, etc. I've made that clear to them.
I have seen a PhD is Cos beg for a job and quite a few who could barely read and write come in at 150k. SO has an official HS education and runs a US wide mandatory program for adults getting into their 100k+ field.
The terms 'educated' and 'uneducated' are thrown around a lot. I've created this thread to give others a chance to layout their opinion of what defines each. Please do. To start off, I offer a video I found on YouTube whose creators gave a variety of faculty, staff, and students at Augusta State University in Georgia a chance to answer the question "What is an educated person?".
In politics, it means who someone agrees or disagrees with, lol.
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