(November 11, 2014 at 2:53 pm)Tonus Wrote:

(November 7, 2014 at 12:21 am)rexbeccarox Wrote: In a heated thread elsewhere on the forum, a member has intimated that our community is lacking education. I had to laugh. So, I ask: what's your level of education?

I graduated high school, so I'm bringing down the curve a bit. But if the person making that claim was Christian, he can easily play both sides of the matter: claim that his opponent is uneducated, but also claim that "the wisdom of this world is foolishness to God (1 Cor. 3:19)."

You're not bringing down the curve at all.

I can honestly say I know people who have higher degrees of education who are as dumb as creationists, and some who have minimal formal education who are some of the smartest people I know.

Even if you are not bright, as long as you have money (or your family) has, you'll be just fine and can even get to US President! Am I too old to remember GWB?

Dropped out of high school.
That was OK 'cause I got accepted at college.
Dropped out of college.
That was OK 'cause I got accepted at the U of Minnesota College of Veterinary Medicine. There I found people who were smarter and worked harder than me.
After 2 years I could have gotten some sort of baccalaureate in animal science. I didn't take it because I thought it would be cooler to have my first degree be the doctorate.
Practiced for 6 years in emergency and after hours work and burned out.

Went back to the U of Wisconsin and got an engineering degree.
Final tally: high school dropout, DVM/BSME.

Beyond a high school diploma, nothing. Have some college experience and am currently debating on re-enrolling. Other than that, my education comes from reading books, of which I try to complete at least one every three or four days.

I went to UNH originally to follow in my oldest brother's footsteps and become a lawyer. Then I realized I really hated writing research papers and public speaking. So, I stayed Liberal Arts undeclared in order to knock out the gen-ed requirements.

I transferred to Computer Science. I did okay in the intro courses, but hit a wall at the assembly language course (which I lovingly refer to as The Widowmaker). I also failed physics. Turns out I have a real issue identifying problems and separating them into their component pieces.

During that time, I was also going through a tough personal stretch. My family learned that my father was a child molester. He had molested my cousin/god mother from the ages of 8-16 in the early-to-mid 1980's. She never came forward until 1999 because she knew we needed his income to help pay for my medical expenses. It's hard to describe exactly how much of a piece of shit you feel like when you know your mere existence contributed to a loved one's ongoing violation, pain, humiliation, and fear. At the same time, my girlfriend dumped me, and we had to put the family dog down. I really wasn't in a good head space for a while. Thankfully, my father (who was a mentally abusive prick in addition to being a molester) has been rotting in prison since 2001. My brothers and I have changed our last names to our mom's maiden name.

So, yeah... I spun my wheels at school for a bit while my personal life disintegrated. I knew I had to graduate with some kind of degree, so I transferred to Communication (no 's' at the end), and managed to bring my GPA to the high 3.xx's with three or four straight 4.0 semesters despite the previous failing grades in CS and physics.

Final tally:

Went to UNH from fall 1997 - spring 2004 due to changes in my major, failing at CS, and not having a full course load every semester due to my disability
Got my BA in Communication, with minors in Computer Information and Technology and Music

Currently:

Working as a freelance web programmer. Self-taught, except for what little I remembered from my intro CS classes. And a far better human being than my father could ever hope to be.

(November 7, 2014 at 12:23 am)Surgenator Wrote: Have my masters and working on my PhD in physics.

Good choice(which sub field if I may ask?). As to myself, I got a MA and PhD in Physics (both theoretical high energy physics).

And let me stress that having a PhD is not a guarantee for wisdom, knowledge or in general for not being an idiot. Not having any degrees does not mean that one is not highly educated, smart. Don't get me started on IQ. I had to add that because it's so true, and I know painfully many examples.

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(November 11, 2014 at 2:01 pm)Drich Wrote:

(November 10, 2014 at 11:51 pm)rexbeccarox Wrote: Only you could write the longest post in the thread, and at the same time completely ignore the thread topic, Drich. It's mind-boggling.

Mine is a degree from life. Again formal education wasnot/is not an option. I made my way by the path God laid out before me.

Yeah...yeah...I'm sure God laid it out for ya... I mean,
not everyone can be from a "socialist" country like me and get all education for free...

(November 12, 2014 at 5:48 pm)Alex K Wrote:

(November 7, 2014 at 12:23 am)Surgenator Wrote: Have my masters and working on my PhD in physics.

Good choice(which sub field if I may ask?). As to myself, I got a MA and PhD in Physics (both theoretical high energy physics).

And let me stress that having a PhD is not a guarantee for wisdom, knowledge or in general for not being an idiot. Not having any degrees does not mean that one is not highly educated, smart. Don't get me started on IQ. I had to add that because it's so true, and I know painfully many examples.

Mine is in experimental high energy physics. My research is in direct dark matter search which is technically a sub of high energy but it seems more nucleur physics to me.

The only thing a PhD means is that you were competent in a very narrow area of study. There is no guarantee of wisdom or knowledge beyond the narrow area of study.

I have a BS in Industrial Management and a BS in International Economics. Funny thing though, I started out in premed, took tons of science classes, physics, bio, Zoo, Chem, then went looney with French, German, Russian, and spanish but ended up in the business sector after 10 years as a professional student. Its a wonder I ever got out of college with anything coherent. I was smart and ambitious, but oh so very very undisciplined. My grades bounced like a ball. Sometimes great, sometimes terrible!

Oh yes, I got my six sigma black belt too, that was harder than any class because I had to do it while working full-time with my family in turmoil because of family member mental illness episodes. Very hard thing to do!

(November 12, 2014 at 7:19 pm)Surgenator Wrote: Mine is in experimental high energy physics. My research is in direct dark matter search which is technically a sub of high energy but it seems more nucleur physics to me.

Ah, very exciting, and such a lovely mess of exclusions and maybe signals!

(November 12, 2014 at 7:54 pm)Alex K Wrote:

(November 12, 2014 at 7:19 pm)Surgenator Wrote: Mine is in experimental high energy physics. My research is in direct dark matter search which is technically a sub of high energy but it seems more nucleur physics to me.

Ah, very exciting, and such a lovely mess of exclusions and maybe signals!

I'm fairly confident there is no signal. DAMA and CoGENT just have to deal with it. I'm also semi-confident that dark matter is not a WIMP.