Why do people with master degrees and up seem to lack common sense?

Question

Just my thought of the day. I deal with doctors and pharmacists a lot in my job, people who go to school for years! Yet, sometimes I get ones who are completely stupid. Some put themselves out there as highly educated, but some do seem like they lost their marbles along the way. Anyone experience this? Why is this?!

Answer 1

I know what you mean, and you could put college professors in that same group. These groups are intensely focussed and trained in a specific discipline. They earned an advanced degree in one field, and hopefully they are very good at it. But that doesn't mean they are good at anything else.

In fact, the more they dedicate their lives to that single field of study, the more they are isolated from the life experiences that build common sense.

Because somebody is good at being a doctor means they are capable of intense study and capable of learning complex things.. It doesn't mean that they have common sense.

Unfortunately, this is a deadly combination. A lot of knowledge without the common sense to use it wisely makes one a very poor scientist (or a very poor ANYTHING for that matter).

And FYI, I have a Masters degree. (no offense taken!)

Answer 2

Because, for the most part, these people are "book smart" they are nothing more than computers with the correct data loaded into them, they do not think for themselves, they just obey a set of rules and laws that they have been taught. the real genius is the person who can decide for themselves, who can make critical decisions based on a plethora of data and do some actual thinking, not just knowing a true/false answer to the question.


Heres a little anecdote, my friends father is a cop, he was called to a house owned by TWO doctors. they had found that the rocks in their garden had been removed, and placed into a penis-shaped grouping by some local hooligans.

they wanted the police to figure out "what it meant" they would not accept the fact that it was just a harmless prank.

then, a few months later, he was called back to the same house. this time, for a robbery.

when questioning the doc, he asked "were any doors opened? - no"

any windows broken or left unlocked? - no

anything missing? - no

any signs of a break in at all - no,

but, the drop-down staircase to the attic was one inch lower than usual. (there are no points of entry or any signs of forced entry into the attic)


and these are two doctors that people trust their lives with...

Answer 3

being overly educated myself and dealing with overly educated people too often i would have to agree with you. it doesn't really take intelligence to get a degree -- it take perseverance. if you have the patience to make it through (and the appropriate people writing letters) you can get there.

in my opinion (and a few others) you should spend your life learning. the amount of knowledge is to be learned is infinite. you can't learn and run your mouth at the same time. if all you do is run your mouth you are learning nothing. people in the united states especially need to learn to shut up and listen a lot more often.

if you talk to these people you will usually find they think they know everything. i think it might be partly why the health care system ranks as low as it does. it takes a life of searching to find a doctor that will do something other than just write prescriptions. it doesn't take genius to write a prescription -- far too many people without a degree forge them every day. making an accurate diagnosis takes listening and learning skills that these people don't possess. how do you diagnose something without listening to the person that has the problem?

Answer 4

I have a degree but I got it in my late 20's rather than graduating by 22 like most and I know what you are talking about. I think that people who spend that much time and effort on school naturally have less time to develop in the real world and may have a ton of book smarts but lack in what my Mother calls street smarts.

Some times those people are very frustrating.

Answer 5

I work in the engineering field so I deal with a great deal of people with their masters and Phd's. I honestly believe it is because they are TOO smart. They just simply lack the capability to look outside the box and think about things before they go applying a mathematical formula to things. I completely agree with you though...I get so frustrated trying to talk to them b/c they just have no common sense!

Answer 6

I'm thinking it's because some people with master's degrees spend their life learning so many disciplines and logic that they simply have a hard time understanding that sometimes stuff just isn't perfect and logical. And that's pretty much what common sense is... understanding that some things are just stupid and unpredictable, and that's just how it is.

Answer 7

I hear ya. I've got a friend who got her Masters and she get's rolled everytime.
Bad luck with men, cars, homes etc.

My guess, they've spent so much time on their personal goals that they have no life experience. Most have been carted from mummies home to their ivy league schools then to their cushy over paid jobs and never had to think on their feet. They don't know what it's like to worry about a mortage payment.

Look at George Bush.
Hahahaha that should set some people off.

Answer 8

You must understand that degree does not define someones intelligence. Intelligence, which is directly linked to common sense is something that you either have or not. I know lots of people who have only a high school diploma and they are not only smart and intelligent but in many cases they are brilliant then I know people with bachelor or masters and they are mediocre, lacking common sense and as you described them in your question plain stupid and dumb. Concluding, intelligence and common sense cannot be learned in college or university - you just must be born with it.

Answer 9

confident and no. i think of a level shows which you would be able to learn and assimilate infomation on the chosen concern. a level implies different existence skills too alongside with time administration, dedication etc. Intelligence isn't in ordinary terms academic, it implies reasoning, emotional intelligence, social skills etc. yet those with stages could be thoroughly idiotic -no longer studying from errors, being illogical such immersing a toaster plugged into the mains in water - I even have seen it! With training, admire is a huge element I even have modern-day in jobs. I in no way get admire from my kinfolk - yet I left living house at sixteen to realize it and that that they had no section in it. It exchange into by using my grandad who gave me the self admire to do what i wanted. KS is thoroughly appropriate approximately Piaget - yet how do you define intelligence?

Answer 10

Because they have spent thier time with thier heads buried in boks that they havent asssesed the world beyond thier subject now thqt they have finished its time for them to come down from mthier Ivory towers and suffer along witht the rest of us