Is it ok to judge someone based on their education?
Fair warning, I am writing this post after a comment that was made in regards to my education so it might be a little ranty. I'll try my best to keep this chill.
Background:
My boss has a tendency to talk down to me and sometimes make me feel like she thinks I'm a moron. Something happened today along those lines and as I was laughing it off with a couple of coworkers, saying that I have 3 degrees and I'm actually really smart, another woman who sits near us said, "In what? Art?" Now, someone asking what my degrees are in is not a big deal. However, the condescending way she said "art" as if it were scum under her shoe really threw me.
Yes, my undergrad is in art. I have a BA in Visual Arts with a concentration in Photography from Pine Manor College. I worked my ass off in high school to even graduate and be able to go to college. I missed a lot of school my Junior year and honestly didn't think college would ever happen. I studied art because it was the only thing that really interested me at 18 when I'd had a very difficult adolescence. I officially graduated with my BA in 2007.
In 2013 I went back to school for my Masters, busting my ass (yet again) and completed my program in 2 years. I graduated from Northeastern University in 2015 with an MS in Human Services, concentration in Global Studies, and a GPA of 3.8. In 2018 I decided I wasn't quite done and went back for more. I returned to NEU to completed a graduate certificate program in Non-profit Management, finishing in March of this year.
Now, by this person's standards I am apparently not smart or worthy of anything because I have an art degree. And yet, I can think of many very acclaimed people who have these so-called less worthy degrees. So this brings me back to my initial thought...
Is it ok to pass judgment on someone because of their education? Or even lack thereof? Someone's education does not determine their worth. People go to college to study many things and others don't go at all. Do the letters next to a person's name determine their value? If someone didn't go to college because it simply wasn't in the cards for them, does that mean that they are beneath you?
Any sane person can answer these questions logically. For me, my education is important to me because of what it represents. My teenage years were extremely difficult and college was a way to start over and escape that life. Obtaining my MS was another way for me to "write my way out", so to speak, as I've been working towards a specific career goal for many years now.
The degrees I hold, regardless of what they say, are evidence of how far I've come in my life and the struggles I've faced along the way. To have someone disparage that is not only insulting to me, but to every single person who ever went to school to make something of themselves, but didn't follow the "traditional" path.
So how about we not pass judgement on others just because they don't meet whatever standards you've set forth in your mind.
-Danielle
Background:
My boss has a tendency to talk down to me and sometimes make me feel like she thinks I'm a moron. Something happened today along those lines and as I was laughing it off with a couple of coworkers, saying that I have 3 degrees and I'm actually really smart, another woman who sits near us said, "In what? Art?" Now, someone asking what my degrees are in is not a big deal. However, the condescending way she said "art" as if it were scum under her shoe really threw me.
Yes, my undergrad is in art. I have a BA in Visual Arts with a concentration in Photography from Pine Manor College. I worked my ass off in high school to even graduate and be able to go to college. I missed a lot of school my Junior year and honestly didn't think college would ever happen. I studied art because it was the only thing that really interested me at 18 when I'd had a very difficult adolescence. I officially graduated with my BA in 2007.
In 2013 I went back to school for my Masters, busting my ass (yet again) and completed my program in 2 years. I graduated from Northeastern University in 2015 with an MS in Human Services, concentration in Global Studies, and a GPA of 3.8. In 2018 I decided I wasn't quite done and went back for more. I returned to NEU to completed a graduate certificate program in Non-profit Management, finishing in March of this year.
Now, by this person's standards I am apparently not smart or worthy of anything because I have an art degree. And yet, I can think of many very acclaimed people who have these so-called less worthy degrees. So this brings me back to my initial thought...
Is it ok to pass judgment on someone because of their education? Or even lack thereof? Someone's education does not determine their worth. People go to college to study many things and others don't go at all. Do the letters next to a person's name determine their value? If someone didn't go to college because it simply wasn't in the cards for them, does that mean that they are beneath you?
Any sane person can answer these questions logically. For me, my education is important to me because of what it represents. My teenage years were extremely difficult and college was a way to start over and escape that life. Obtaining my MS was another way for me to "write my way out", so to speak, as I've been working towards a specific career goal for many years now.
The degrees I hold, regardless of what they say, are evidence of how far I've come in my life and the struggles I've faced along the way. To have someone disparage that is not only insulting to me, but to every single person who ever went to school to make something of themselves, but didn't follow the "traditional" path.
So how about we not pass judgement on others just because they don't meet whatever standards you've set forth in your mind.
-Danielle
