I Don't Think a College Degree Always Indicates Intelligence

I'm not bragging about myself but I've always been an a+ student and going to college was a big dream of mine. I was bullied in highschool and I naively thought that college will be my heaven: a place full of people eager to learn , smart and open-minded. Now, I'm aware of the harsh reality.
College gives you education, it doesn't mean that you possess the intelligence to use it in a good way.After all, many presidents were Ivy league students and made a mess of the world.

I studied in an average university in France, I saw people who were there only to get laid. I saw them bullied other students (I never thought this kind of things could happen in college). I also met open-minded people who, at the end of the year, were unable to think outside of the box.
It made me understand that college is a place of conformity,not critical thinking. I rarely met a professor who was happy to see a student standing against his theories . Most of the time, you have to sit and swallow whatever will be given to you.
But worst of all,college turned me into an arrogant person detached from the reality of the world.I'm ashamed to say,I thought I was better than the janitor because I have a college degree and I was able to talk about existentialism or the complete work of Shakespeare.

Then reality bit me: I was forced to drop out due to some personal problems. I became a cashier at the local supermarket and my opinion on what the word "intelligence" really meant, changed drastically. In this supermarket, I met coworkers who have left school at an early age. They didn't have a college degree but they were street-smarts; they had a good common sense and they were as intelligent as the people I met in college. Their path of life was simply different.Their low wages made them fight for a good life everyday and I learned a lot from them (all the tricks to survive when you broke😉) .
But this is the most important thing they taught me: never judge someone on his level of education, his job or the weight of his wallet. Never forget that College degrees are often a result of opportunity, related to family, economic circumstances... It doesn't determine someone's worth.
(Sorry for my bad English)

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Northwest · M

[quote].I'm ashamed to say,I thought I was better than the janitor because I have a college degree [/quote]

A coupe of issues:

1. You said that you dropped out, so you don't have a college degree.

2. How do you know the janitor does not have a college degree? When I was an undergraduate student, I worked as a waiter, bartender, and janitor in area restaurants.

In France, you're either at a Grande Ecole, or a University. If you're at a University, as an undergrad, you will probably have a mediocre experience. If you're at a Grande Ecole, your experience will vary, but you will interact with smarter people.

In any case, my experience is much different. I went to a school, where I was encouraged to think, challenge the status quo, and interact socially. There is a Greek system (fraternities, and sororities), but I avoided it, because this is typically where the assholes hang out.

Sure, for most classes, we had textbooks, but we did not come to class to learn the material. Class time was reserved to discuss what we read on our own, and extend our minds.

Not having a college education, does not mean you're not smart. But there's no such thing as being judgmental, if you have a college degree. What's the common thread between Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, and Mark Zuckerberg? They did not have college degrees when they started their companies, and became $Billionaires. Jobs died, never apologizing for being an asshole. Gates evolved from his earlier asshole days. Zuckerberg? We'll see when we can verify he's human.

One advantage you have in France, is that the good schools are (essentially) free, when in the US, it's not a level playing field.

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Northwest · M

@aloysia I am not passing a judgment, I am saying it like it is. I've spent quite a bit of time around people who were educated in France. My former partner has a PhD in math and computer science, from an ENSI, and her father is a Polytechicien, and a sister in law, who graduated form the Sciences Po, Paris, as well as several former colleagues who are Polytechniciens or Ecole Des Mines (and nearly all of them are colossal assholes).

Note that I did not say that the Grande Ecole is where the free thinkers go, I said that the "filtering" means that you're likely to have smarter people around you.

Sorry, I did not understand your next to last sentence, perhaps you can write it in French.

In any case, while I agree that you cannot judge a person's overall intellectual/empathic/creative worth by their education, having an education does not mean that one is a conformist.

aloysia · 36-40, F

@Northwest 1-For clarity, I have a bachelor degree in Modern literature, I left college 6 months after enrolling in a masters program.
2- I think you have missed my point: I tried to be honest in this post. Yes, I had this stupid prejudice toward the janitor.Of course, he may had have diplomas (my pizza delivery guy has a master degree in biological sciences)but I was writing about who I was back then:an arrogant and stupid girl who thought she was really smart because she was the first person in her family to go to college. I was the bad person in this post.
3- you're a bit judgemental yourself: yes, I was in a classic French university but I wanted to be a writer/ literature professor. I didn't need a diploma from a grande école.So, I chose the easiest and cheapest way: University. But the grandes écoles are worst when it comes to free thinking.

once again sorry for my bad English