Only 27% of Americans >25 have a degree? Are we a nation of idiots?

Question

http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/education/001863.html

Answer 1

Well--- sort of. But I think of America as really just being East Coast and West Coast with Hee-Haw in the middle. What are the stats for people from the coasts?

Answer 2

I guess. The ones who have a degree seemed arrogant.(http://www.daytondailynews.com/n/content/oh/story/news/nation_world/2007/02/26/ddn022707allaboutme.html)

So either way, we're screwed!

Answer 3

A degree is by no means a measure of someone's intelligence. However, the cost of a degree, in both time and dollars, is one of the most significant factors that prevent more people from getting one. This is actually a good thing because if more people had them, they would be of less significance.

Taking it a step further, if more people had degrees, it would be extremely problematic for society and the economy. It's a harsh reality, but how many college educated people do you see working jobs such as garbage collection, auto mechanic, truck driver, etc.?

Answer 4

While having a higher education increases your chances of getting a high paying job, not all the jobs out there require a degree. Why pay for college or university when you're going to work any of the various NECESSARY blue collar jobs around here?

If we all pursue a higher education we're not going to want to settle for a job that we're over-qualified for. Then where is the nation full of doctors, lawyers and psychologists going to go to have lunch when no one is working behind the counter? Who's going to cash them out at their local clothing store? Garbage doesn't walk itself to the landfill.

Seriously, be a bit more realistic...

Answer 5

First, this percentage should dramatically increase as the baby boomers start to kick the bucket. Second, although having a degree is associated with intelligence, there is no actual connection. There are many intelligent people that choose to go into fields where no degree is required (e.g. starting their own business like Bill Gates who happened to drop out of Harvard).

Answer 6

I have a degree from a top-tier university, and I think that's a false barometer of people's intelligence.

We should have fewer people in Universities, and make academic rigor much more steep. Our colleges are a disaster; they are more like social-engineering factories nowadays.

We should have more trade and techincal schools, so we don't outsource our key industries as much. We shouldn't have the Welfare State we do, and the reality is that people in impoverished areas are broken in life by design.

Answer 7

no my dear, we are a nation of struggling young people trying to make it in a world that is very "kill the poor". there are more and more young families along with the rising numbers of people IN GENERAL that are in poverty as we speak. college is expensive no matter what route you go. grants, student loans, what have you. it becomes an issue of gas, getting to work, paying the rent, the car payment, the insurance, some type of health insurance. everything you do in this world costs money, including school, no matter what bull **** excuse you give me, and it is not the sunny, good-old-boy mentality that works for our nation any longer. this is war of survival, poverty vs how our government can create more programs that help children from underfunded families and perhaps even their own, make a life and go to college.

Answer 8

Actually there should be less people with college degrees but they have made it so easy nowadays to get a college degree that pretty much anyone can get one if they have the time and money.

Answer 9

well 25 and over, also considers senior citizens who when they were younger, college was not a priority or not reasonable ,so they went to work instead of attending college.

Answer 10

If you don't have a degree you have to use your brain. Many people without degrees are very intelligent.