I love this topic. People learn different ways and in different areas. I try to read everything from the library as everything is interesting.

One of the smartest people I have ever met was my grandfather. He only went to the 2nd grade and afterward worked on his family's farm. He was awesome as he taught himself to read and the man could literally fix or build anything. As children we used to sit by his chair and listen to him explain how everything functioned.

One of my best friends Kathy has four degrees and has never held down a job and couldn't get a drivers license until she was 28 because she didn't have the ability to pass the manual part of driving. I visited one day and smelled something burning and she had a box of cake mix that had "instant" written on it! Yes, she was baking a box of cake mix and was fully expecting a cake. Another time she had gotten herself shocked while sticking a screwdriver into an electric socket attempting to fix a short.

She isn't stupid though but, has a unique ability to memorize anything. She can watch a movie and a few hours later she can recite most of the dialogue back to you. She can read a book on electrical repair and recite it back but, seems to have a problem between the book and action.

Quote by prevenge

I know it's tough to deflate your egos for the time it takes to write your post, but just put in what you've actually officially earned through FORMAL education.
We can even have a separate thread for people that want to brag about their Mensa invitations and personal intellectual interests.
-

YES MASTER ...
WE HEAR AND OBEY...

Whats the matter with you. The op seems to be quite happy with how this thread is going AND these people are enjoying the posts and learning about each other. They enjoy this thread. See? It's a good thing.

Definition
en-joy    [en-joi]
–verb (used with object)
to have and use with satisfaction; have the benefit of

Go write a spreadsheet or something if you are worried about knowing ONLY who has a formal education.
Better yet go start a a formal education thread with so many restrictions that you get no interest whatsoever.

Then you can look up the definition of boring,
or spoilsport.

[edit on 4-12-2008 by badgerprints]

I'll play along.

Highschool diploma,
College degree in buisness accounting
College diploma in human resources
and now transfered into universtiy for my masters in buisness accounting.

Education? Lets see...

Bachelor of Liberal Arts majoring in History with a minor in English literature...
discovered it qualified me to be a waiter.

Associates in Applied Arts in photography...
discovered the market is glutted with photographers.

Associates in Applied Arts in Graphic design...
same thing. Plus I learned these days experience (aka as age) means nothing... all businesses are interested in is whether you are a health insurance risk or not.

Taught myself both windows and Mac OS...

Self taught as a Chef... worked at it for 20 years...
learned how to cook to augment the fine art of seduction and discovered I was better at the cooking.

Yeoman in the Coast Guard...

About 3,000 books in my personal library... the majority history and reference...
made studying at school and research easier.

Studied widely on my own in religion, mythology, symbolism, psychology, philosophy, art, anthropology etc. or what I call the nut, as in both insanity and essence of humanity... I learned about the depth of our shared humanity.

Have taught myself how to brew beer and how to hunt for wild mushrooms...
hobbies keep life interesting and keep me learning.

countless acid trips.... learned to plumb the depths of my own soul.

Creative writing, newspaper studies and drama in high school...
introduced me to worlds beyond being a teen.

know the night sky passably well, have 2 telescopes... and a microscope and a macroscope.... learned the universe becomes remarkably similar at both extremes.

Vagabonded around the nation in my early 20's... learned about my nation and the people in it.

stuff like that.

What is more important than education though is curiosity,a discriminating enough mind to tell reality from bullhooey and an open mind.

[edit on 4-12-2008 by grover]

I was a great test-taker in H.S. but refused to do homework, as my belief was "Why do I need to do homework if I get 'A's' on exams?"

Unfortunately, homework was 35% of the grade, so I was required to repeat the 7th and 10th grades...

Learning that I was to repeat the 10th grade, I dropped out and joined the U.S. Navy at 17...

While on recruiting duty for the Navy in 1985, I finished high school and graduated in 1986...

While stationed in WA in 1990, I attended City University and graduated with an Associate of General Studies degree in 1991...

While assigned as a Navy ROTC instructor at the University of Pennsylvania in 1993, I attended and graduated with a BBA (Bachelor of Business Administration) from the Wharton School of Business in 1996...

Penn is an Ivy League university and Wharton is the #1 "B" school in the nation (i.e. Donald Trump, etc...)...

BUT, the only thing I really "learned" in college was accounting and statistics...

I read extensively, and always have...and I attribute most of my learning and knowledge to comic books when I was 10 and then further reading as I matured...

Wharton helped me obtain a job as a VP for a company and retire recently at 47...That's it...

To me, and Bill Gates, college, like all of our educational institutions, is a joke...

Those who can't do, teach...

Originally posted by badgerprints

Quote by prevenge

I know it's tough to deflate your egos for the time it takes to write your post, but just put in what you've actually officially earned through FORMAL education.
We can even have a separate thread for people that want to brag about their Mensa invitations and personal intellectual interests.
-

YES MASTER ...
WE HEAR AND OBEY...


Then you can look up the definition of boring,
or spoilsport.

[edit on 4-12-2008 by badgerprints]

don't get smart with me buster.

-

I am a registered user, but do to my internet filters...I cannot log in.
Therefore, I am posting ANON.

I hold a BS in Elem Ed.

Too late.

One liner!
One liner!

Great Thread! I do not think that a formal education is important to prove intelligence. I do, however, think that not having education after high school puts you in a difficult position for finding jobs. The only real options if you only have a diploma are military services, networking, or being extremely brilliant. Since I didn't want to go into the military, didn't know anyone that could land me a decent paying job, and am far from brilliant, I went to college.

I am currently in my second year studying finance at a university. But honestly, if you live in the U.S. you are doomed for trying to find a job unless you land a job working for the government. I bet unemployment will be disasterous through 2009 (and after)!

Here are my education stats...
certified dog trainer
Ba in psychology (utterly useless)
AA in child development

Starting in January I'm going back to school for Grahic design and marketing, that way I have a degree that is actually worth something, as my BA in psych isnt worth anything without another 2-6 years of schooling to get my masters, or become a LPC


[edit on 4-12-2008 by gluetrap]

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---

No squabbling please. There is nothing wrong with having pride in working towards or completing a degree if that is your passion.

I would like to thank those that have participated (it is more than I predicted) and encourage more to post.

Although I originally created this thread to see what percentage of our members were formally educated or not, I feel more questions can be answered than the original.

What binds ATS members? What do we have in common? Why are we all on a quest for truth? Is it education? Is it experience? Obviously, anyone who has read all the replies can see that there is a very large variety of educational levels. Many posters have taken the liberty of taking the next step of disclosure and revealed private real life experiences that they feel have benefit them. Those experiences vary even greater than the education.

What is it then? Respect? Curiosity? Are the majority of us under-stimulated? Do we just want to argue?

So many questions I know and I apologize.

Maybe I am just trying to figure out why I came to ATS and I can't stay away. What keeps us here?

Originally posted by SuperSecretSquirrel
No squabbling please. There is nothing wrong with having pride in working towards or completing a degree if that is your passion.


Maybe I am just trying to figure out why I came to ATS and I can't stay away. What keeps us here?

I apologize. I was squabbling. Like reading about everybody.

I think we keep coming back because we enjoy the stimulation of interacting with people who have so many different points of view and ideas.
We see the same people every day and sometimes we can get a little stale without new input. It's even fun to interact with folks we don't agree with because it stretches our limits.

2nd year in HS, and credit deficient.

Dropped out of HS.

Pretended to Home School.

Got my CHSPE.

Pretended to do some College.

Wow, yhew peepole is larned an' whutnawt.

But seriously, school was boring and I left after 8th grade. It took me a while to find something I wanted to do (10 years), but next year I start at the Albany School of Pharmacy and will eventually have my PharmD.

I finished high school at what is called grade 10 over here when I was 15 years old. At age 21 I went back to school and did the next level to matriculation, called grade 12. Then I went to Uni to study philosphy, politics and a psychology major.

Uni lasted one year as it was BS. Since then I got a couple of certificates, one in IT.

No idea what my IQ is, but after the brain cells I murdered in my youth, it wouldn't be that high anymore, lol.

I too don't think formal upper level education is a tell all to one's intelligence! I know lots of extremely intelligent people who never attended college. I also know complete idiots who graduated college.

However, those who want careers in specific careers more then likely need to attend college in order to work in that career/field. There are just some things life cant teach you

I graduated High School, got my AA in Business Administration....got TONS of work experience then decided to go back to school for Criminal Justice/Forenics. I have maintained a 4.0 and been on the Dean's List (I feel I can brag since its not easy and an accomplishment!!)

this has got my attention as despite being dyslexic iv managed to do quite well

11 GCSE's
B tec national in aerospace engineering
diploma in advanced aerospace engineering
2 degrees in computer science

and a lot of on the job work experience in some interesting places