My wife does not have a degree. Until last year, when she retired, she worked in the Office of the President of a state university as the President's Assistant. She ghost-wrote articles and speeches for the president — for *three* different presidents, each with their own voices, in such a way that no one would suspect the president didn't write them. She had other duties as well, and she evolved her job to add more as needed.
A few years ago the university rewrote the job descriptions for the administrative side. If Deb wanted to go back to work and apply for her old job, she couldn't; it now needs a bachelors degree (masters preferred). Because that's much easier to evaluate on a resumé than all the skills she *actually* had.
My wife reads constantly, she keeps up with current events, she held her own at campus events for over 15 years with PhDs and people who would have looked down their nose at her if they'd known she didn't have a diploma. But she would agree that young people need teachers who teach and then hold them to task to demonstrate that learning, because not everybody (and she's looking at nieces and nephews with more education and fewer smarts) can pull themselves up.
Good for your wife! Wow! My niece managed to get past the degree hurdle and built a long career in management at the University of Michigan, where their entire operation is built on churning out degrees, but she was an exception. It can be done, but it's so rare we can't get enough of congratulating them.
Years ago, I was secretary to the head of a nursing dept at U of M when she went on maternity leave and left the dept in the capable hands of a woman who had a two-year degree in nursing.
She was wonderful. Everyone loved her and she did a smashing job. Yet, when my boss moved on to another hospital, her replacement was required to have a master's degree so the nurse who already knew the job, our favorite and most qualified, wasn't even considered. The nurse who won the job was a disaster from the start. She had no people or executive skills but she did have a master's.
That makes me so mad - there are far too many people out there who get promoted based on bits of paper rather than actual, real life professional work experience.
I took creative writing for a year at university and I hated it. It was airy-fairy, I couldn't connect with the tutor and felt totally out of place with the rest of the class. It was very disheartening after enjoying writing at school and feeling like I was kind of good at it for so long. I do have a degree in law and practiced as an attorney for a few years, and it was quite a challenge adapting to a legal way of writing - it's quite funny now when people who are used to my professional writing style read some of my "creative" work!
My wife does not have a degree. Until last year, when she retired, she worked in the Office of the President of a state university as the President's Assistant. She ghost-wrote articles and speeches for the president — for *three* different presidents, each with their own voices, in such a way that no one would suspect the president didn't write them. She had other duties as well, and she evolved her job to add more as needed.
A few years ago the university rewrote the job descriptions for the administrative side. If Deb wanted to go back to work and apply for her old job, she couldn't; it now needs a bachelors degree (masters preferred). Because that's much easier to evaluate on a resumé than all the skills she *actually* had.
My wife reads constantly, she keeps up with current events, she held her own at campus events for over 15 years with PhDs and people who would have looked down their nose at her if they'd known she didn't have a diploma. But she would agree that young people need teachers who teach and then hold them to task to demonstrate that learning, because not everybody (and she's looking at nieces and nephews with more education and fewer smarts) can pull themselves up.
Good for your wife! Wow! My niece managed to get past the degree hurdle and built a long career in management at the University of Michigan, where their entire operation is built on churning out degrees, but she was an exception. It can be done, but it's so rare we can't get enough of congratulating them.
Years ago, I was secretary to the head of a nursing dept at U of M when she went on maternity leave and left the dept in the capable hands of a woman who had a two-year degree in nursing.
She was wonderful. Everyone loved her and she did a smashing job. Yet, when my boss moved on to another hospital, her replacement was required to have a master's degree so the nurse who already knew the job, our favorite and most qualified, wasn't even considered. The nurse who won the job was a disaster from the start. She had no people or executive skills but she did have a master's.
That makes me so mad - there are far too many people out there who get promoted based on bits of paper rather than actual, real life professional work experience.
I took creative writing for a year at university and I hated it. It was airy-fairy, I couldn't connect with the tutor and felt totally out of place with the rest of the class. It was very disheartening after enjoying writing at school and feeling like I was kind of good at it for so long. I do have a degree in law and practiced as an attorney for a few years, and it was quite a challenge adapting to a legal way of writing - it's quite funny now when people who are used to my professional writing style read some of my "creative" work!