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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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First let me say your English is really good your comment as well composed and written.

I am sorry that you had to drop out of University, it is never an easy feeling to leave your dreams, cutting them short.
You and I both have had similar experiences to a certain degree, although my experience with teachers were not as terrible or boring maybe because I studied engineering.

I met some wonderful students and I also some teachers/ professors who knew their subject very well, however, had no idea how to teach it.

Met some really obnoxious, rude and full of themselves students (although very few) however many of them were those who were spoon-fed. Yes some student partied hard, drank crazy, played video games most of the time when they should be attending classes, and some got laid almost everyday. Although majority of the students i met extremely hard-working, often working 20 to hours a week while taking full load courses, plus two jobs during summer support their education and not give up.

I've always been a strong believer in higher education.
Not just because it allows you to earn money but it allows you to be more productive part of the society...if one choses to...
Not to say that people who do not have a University degree or not productive, they are, some of the CEOs/founders of multinational companies are University dropouts including Michael Dell and so on.


I have very bitter experience, Having worked in manufacturing/ Engineering industry 80% of the people working on the floor always made comments like "you office people, paper pushers, Carpet people, make big bucks and have no idea how hard it is to work on the floor and the tough life. Whom i could talk, told thenm that choosing to go to university was the hardest and the most difficult thing, when I did not have tons of money and I worked two jobs had student loans, so I can get through my University.

yes after graduating with an engineering degree i was able to achieve many of my dreams and do what I wanted to do.
I'm also able to give my kids a better chance in life in learning and be educated.