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Subject:Prime example of misunderstanding (degrees) From:"Walker, Arlen P" <Arlen -dot- P -dot- Walker -at- JCI -dot- COM> Date:Tue, 22 Jul 1997 10:05:03 -0500
I'd like to thank Steve Warren for proving this excellent example of the
kind of misunderstanding that perpetuates this thread. With this concrete
example before us, perhaps we can finally lay this thread to rest:
You say you aren't knocking but it seems to me by saying someone who
can make it without a degree is often more capable is a severe flame
Note the word used in Lynn's original post was "often." Not "always," not
even "most;" just "often." (Again, not "more often" or "most often," just
"often.")
I can feel comfortable using that word to make both comparisons:
1) People without a degree are often more capable than people with a
degree.
2) People with a degree are often more capable than people without a
degree.
Speaking for myself only, I think both statements are true and
noncontradictory. They mean that while each occurance happens more
frequently than "seldom" or "never," neither one necessarily happens more
often than the other. What's more, I think most if not all the non-degreed
folks out there would come along with me on this road. It seems to square
with most of the anecdotal evidence presented here, at least.
Yet that road seems to be a hard one for some degreed people (like Steve)
to travel. I think perhaps we have invested so much of ourselves in the
effort symbolized by that degree that we lose track of the difference
between the symbol and the thing itself. Is marriage a ring? Or is it a
commitment made between two people? Is education a degree? Or is it an
expanded understanding?
Have fun,
Arlen
Chief Managing Director In Charge, Department of Redundancy Department
DNRC 224
Arlen -dot- P -dot- Walker -at- JCI -dot- Com
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