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kerryrose, June 14 at 9:43 am:

‘Having a college degree does not mean that a person is ignorant, but it is more likely. ...’

I’ve read statistics that say otherwise.  Of course, in compiling such statistics, the compiler must control for variables such as ethnicity, class, family income and so forth.  Frequently, advocates of the education industry avoid doing this.  But if those variables are controlled for, those without college degrees seem to be about as knowledgeable and competent as those with.

Most colleges now seem to be vocational schools, anyway, and if they were understood to be such, it would no longer be necessary to inflate the curriculum with useless instruction (forgotten the day after the finals) so as to pad it out to the traditional four years.  But this would cut into the education industry’s revenues.

This article wreaks of elitism. I have great respect for education but a college degree is not a requirement of running for office nor should it be. Being knowledgeable and competent does not require official certification.

People so quickly forget that famous 1998 study showing absolutely no difference in life outcomes between people who were accepted to an Ivy League college and didn’t go, and those who were accepted and did.  Four years of Ivy League education made no statistical difference in their lives.

This is the same mentality that says the three branches of government should be filled with lawyers.

A college education was never in the minds of the framers of the constitution.  Yeoman farmers maybe, college grads definitely not.

I see this as a positive sign.  A steady diet of Ivy League or Stanford lecture podcasts will disabuse most people of their magical-thinking reverence for college.

Having a college degree does not mean that a person is ignorant, but it is more likely.  Give me one hundred people without a college degree and give me one hundred people with a college degree.  Now granted, you will find ignorance in both groups, but I will bet that you will find less ignorance in the college graduate group.

Don’t like the ignorance that you see in the political system?  Don’t like the continual cycle of mistakes that indicates an ignorance of history?  Lack of an education may be the reason.

No, I am not a “Tea Party” person and I certainly resent the implication. I merely stated that having a college degree does not guarantee that a person is not a moron, and I will stand by that and my examples.

No, I do not have a college degree. Neither does my husband, who has worked in the communications / IT field for almost 40 years. I can assure you that few could match his experience or his expertise in solving a multitude of system troubles that have flummoxed many of his degree-holding co-workers, or his ability to think outside the box, which he has demonstrated time and again throughout his career.

Yes, we value education. And we did our best to impress that on our kids: one has a Master’s in Math and the other is currently working on an advanced degree in Geology. We both spent a lot of time working in their schools with their teachers and in their classrooms when they were in elementary and junior high school. So sorry, with working and child-rearing and a hefty amount of school and extra-curricular volunteering, we didn’t have a lot of time, energy, or money to get those degrees for ourselves. Neither of our families had the money to pay for college for us when we were just out of high school, and while I did attend for almost 2 years the financial situation got so oppressive I decided it was untenable. My husband was able to pay for community college to earn an associate’s degree. He could have gone to an expensive 4-year school but refused to even consider asking his parents, who had 4 younger siblings at home, to mortgage their home to put him through school, and that was the only way they could finance it at the time.

Education is a life-long process. It doesn’t begin or end with college. I certainly agree that being grounded in literature, philosophy, and especially history is essential to making informed decisions. This is why reading, reading, reading is critical, reading all these subjects, reading criticisms of what you read, discussing these things with others and staying fresh. Too many people are content be spoon-fed their ideas by Fox News, Rush Limbaugh, or their local shock-jocks. Or they see stuff on the internet or via emails that get passed around and absorb it or pass it on unthinkingly. I have been shocked at the number of times people have forwarded things to me that, while sounding funny, cute, and pat on the surface, are, with about 30 seconds of real thought, are also racist, sexist, patently false, glib, and borderline fascistic. Sometimes I respond and point this out, which probably makes me pretty unpopular.

I don’t have any patience with people who think “common sense’ is enough when “common sense” is a code word for cultivated ignorance and the perverse pride some people take in that ignorance. And that kind of ignorance is not the sole property of those lacking college degrees. The ranks of the climate-change deniers and the minions of the Discovery Institute are full of hacks with degrees, some of them advanced degrees.

Are the previous respondents Tea Party people?

Having a college degree often indicates the ability to focus on material.  It also indicates a fair degree of intellectual curiosity in order to develop a major and learn enough in that major to become proficient.  It also indicates a value for education.

Let’s face it.  Proficiency in any subject along with some foundation in literature, philosophy, and especially history enables a person to make more informed decisions.

Common sense doesn’t always cut it.

Most college grads are cookie cutter, mass produced entities that show nothing but the fact that they can play the game and are trainable. Most can neither think on their feet or think outside the box.

I’m wondering what the significance of the factoid is supposed to be.  I have recently read evidence that there is virtually no difference between the knowledge and critical thinking skills of those with and those without college degrees when other factors are controlled for.  I suppose it does show that a degree isn’t necessary for success in electoral politics, but isn’t an impediment either, which is more of a surprise to me.

Having a college degree is not a guarantee that a person is not a moron. Cases in point: George W. Bush, Sarah Palin, and David Barton.