Snowden and Education

Lady leghorn, I didn't count you as among the not-so-bright drop outs that I have met. I have never met you and didn't know you didn't finish high school. Don't take it personally. There are exceptions to every rule. 

Also read my second sentence. I meet a lot of dumb high school graduates, too.

In fact, one of the dumbest people I have ever met is an engineer. Yep, plenty of education, zero common sense, and not enough brains to keep her mouth shut to hide the fact.

Indeed, I have worked with a lot of PhD's and, by and large, have been less than impressed. Just my experience, no offense intended to PhD's. Out of all the ones I have worked with, I figure about half are not worthy of the title.

By the same token, I also know of drop outs who did very well. One such wealthy person can't even really read.

Dave Thomas (of Wendy's) was a drop out. He did recognize that a lot of his success was built on hard work and luck and that an education did stack the deck more in your favour. He used to give talks at schools about staying in school. At one such talk, some kid pointed out that he hadn't finished school and had done well. Thomas recognized his hypocrisy and went back and got his GED. No kid was going to use him as an excuse to drop out.


Authentic, I did see you second sentence and thought it was funny. Essentially you were saying that most people, in general, are not very bright.

Funny how we equate wealth/financial success to intelligence. We seem to attach what one does, and what they own, to who they are. Like Uno, I do not link them.
The description of success for me changed when I worked on the boats in the south. Though I do like to live comfortably and own things, this no longer makes me FEEL like a better person, than someone who owns nothing. I met many people with nothing who were intelligent, happy and genuine. I know many people with everything, who are poor as dirt in my opinion. Plus, lots of people who have lots of stuff, don't own it, the bank does.
As for intelligence, there are so many types of intelligence, and regurgitating is just one of them, that success at school is not a good measure for it. Like Forrest Gump's mom said, "stupid is as stupid does."
Snowden is obviously motivated by passion, and his belief that things he has seen being done are wrong morally. For this he has my respect. It takes a great deal of fortitude to go against the system. No matter what system that might be....

uno wrote:

I think there was a time, in the past, where higher education was equated with greater pay. But I think that is less true now. You do not need to go to school to be an entrepreneur, you need to be a risk taker. No one can teach you that.

Uno, I believe the opposite. There was a time where the self made man was more common but not today. More and more a higher education is necessary for jobs that in the past required less education. Case in point, the oilfield. Here where I live kids would regularly drop out of school and either farm their family's farm or work the rigs. Well many of the rig jobs are no longer available unless you completed school.

It is also important to note that education and money do not equal happiness nor even intelligence, and that there are exceptions for every rule. You can always say that your great uncle dropped out of school and is the richest man you know, but for every great uncle are thousands who cannot find a job that will support their family with less than a high school education.

If you do not be live in statistics, you may not want to click on this link. I have specifically found a Canadian one but there are many, many to be found showing income is directly linked to education.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

So, bringing things back together, Snowdon is obviously an intelligent man, a trait that has nothing to do with his education and being a dropout. Intelligent kids may drop out and less intelligent kids may graduate. However, education does have a direct link to income. Two entirely different concepts.

Stat's only matter to those who choose to believe in them , myself I have seen enough stat's that have been "" corrected "" to get what was desired to question them at the best of times .But that's just me ! ....in regards to higher education paying better ? well if you can actually find a job in your field that you have spent countless hours working towards ? some do get there , many don't ! I used to supervise in a plant and I had people with diplomas after a lot of years in a college and they were doing grunt jobs due to the fact that what they had studied for was what half a million others had as well ? I think if a business wants to better you because they see the potential in you ? now there is a chance to move up as it were .Where I worked we had a lot of people who came in with university degrees who had no understanding other then what they had been taught and that was questionable .Most were let go because they just didn't have what it takes and they were replaced with those who had worked there way up to that knowledge with hard work etc .The Company started looking a bit closer to what was required and we promoted people rather then wait for someone to show up with a diploma .My nephew who has finished High school , taken courses on the side gets paid as if he is a CMA , ( $75.000-$80.000 per year I believe ) ? And I know of many others who have gone further then those who thought it would be easy street , seems that they got there diplomas and that the world would open up for them ?.I think a lot of business's are seeing that hard work is the way to gain experience , not a diploma that only says you completed what you studied .Of course there are those positions that need a degree , Doctors etc who are specialized in there fields definitely need there education as anyone would agree with .Some education is required for every thing , but a lot of what is being taught is a waste of time , or rather is only good if that is what interest's the person . I absolutely hated school , very little of what was taught interested me and I have yet to use a lot of it in real life ? Might just be me ? but as in this discussion we can see that there are different views to every thing ..............so no hard feelings , we do have our veiws