What level of education have you achieved?

irish bloke

username123 wrote: »

Hmmm, I've got a 6, two 8's, one 9, and midway through my second 9. I've another couple of 9's to do that interest me before I feel ready for a 10.

Do you have a job?

steddyeddy

Tarzana wrote: »

Memorising facts? No.

Understanding facts ie. proper learning? Yes.

Well proper learning is subjective. I.e some facts are harder to grasp than others. Two from biochemistry:

• glycolysis is the biochemical pathway by which glucose is broke down to form pyruvate
• Nuclear magnetic resonance uses electromagnetic radiation to cause a change in the precess of nuclei. Differential shielding of the nuclei results in different degrees of resonance. Resonance differentiation corresponds to different chemical environments.

The first one is a fact. It took me five seconds to learn. The second one is a phenomenon and needs to be understood before being memorised. Once you understand the phenomenon you can determine chemical structures and if you wanted determine the first fact for yourself. They should be teaching more of the second problem in college.

username123

irish bloke wrote: »

Do you have a job?

Yes, Ive worked fulltime since the mid 90s (after my initial degree and masters). Ive had a break where I was made redundant and was lucky enough to receive a redundancy payout that allowed me to study full time for a bit (I finished another undergraduate degree and did a cert), and then I went back to work and now Im part time studying my second masters while working full time.

My second degree and masters are not related to my first, and my cert is not related to either - just stuff that interests me.

Ficheall

Magaggie wrote: »

Educational qualifications are a necessity for lots of jobs - not just because they are qualifications but because you couldn't do the job without them.

No, education is what (hopefully) makes you able to do the job.
A "qualification" is a piece of paper which pretty much anyone in the country can get, with just a little tenacity - it is pretty difficult to fail university. Universities are like big vending machines - you pay in your money and you get your degree. If people aren't getting their degrees after paying their money, less people will use the vending machine, ergo less money for the vendors. This seems to be the case in Ireland and the UK at any rate. The universities are businesses. It is in their interests for other (non-university) businesses to believe that the education the universities provide could not be better gleaned in shorter time from studying some information on the internet, or by spending six months in the industry.

Magaggie wrote: »

I understand people who didn't go to college downplaying education qualifications but I really can't understand people who got qualifications doing so. If they had to do it all again, would they not bother?

Perhaps the people who got qualifications downplaying education are making educated appraisals?

I'm not saying universities aren't worthwhile, but there is a bit of emperor's clothing knocking around...

jimgoose

RobbingBandit wrote: »

I am still working on my BA..

I ain't goin' on no plane, Hannibal!

Tarzana

Tarzana wrote: »

Same on both counts. :pac:

Oh sorry, meant to highlight the right left bit too, I meant I also still confuse them.

Shakespeare's Sister

Ficheall wrote: »

I'm not saying universities aren't worthwhile, but there is a bit of emperor's clothing knocking around...

I used to think that when I was younger, but as I get older I value education more - particularly when I see how it benefits not just individuals but societies. That's just me by the way - I don't mean it in a "When you get older you'll understand" way, I don't know what age you are anyway.
There are certainly flaws in this country (moreso with second-level in my opinion) but education in and of itself is something that's dear to my heart. I'm not only concerned with what job it will get people.

Tarzana

steddyeddy wrote: »

Well proper learning is subjective. I.e some facts are harder to grasp than others. Two from biochemistry:

• glycolysis is the biochemical pathway by which glucose is broke down to form pyruvate
  

The first one is a fact. It took me five seconds to learn.

No, you learned the name of the pathway in five seconds. Not the mechanism. You couldn't explain the pathway in-depth from that. When I was learning these pathways in second year of college, it took me weeks to understand the mechanisms behind this and all the other pathways properly. Weeks. This involved not just learning off the molecule names at each step of the way, but studying their structure and understanding how the various enzymes changed their structure to move on to the next step. That's learning. And that's what will stick in your head and come back to you quickly with revision.

Un Croissant

Sometimes people criticise people who stay on in college past the usual undergraduate level. Surely they are one of those things that society invests in, like artists or musicians etc. Sure, they get propped up for a while but there is value there that is not in just the tax they would pay had they not gotten a job sooner.

steddyeddy

Some jobs like researchers in pharm companies require a PhD.

Ficheall

Magaggie wrote: »

I used to think that when I was younger, but as I get older I value education more - particularly when I see how it benefits not just individuals but societies.

Education is incredibly important, yes - my point was that this is not necessarily best received at university, and that a university qualification does not guarantee that you know much.

anncoates

steddyeddy wrote: »

I don't think memorising facts is intelligence.

Didn't say it was nor is college is the ultimate affirmation of same but saying that higher education (especially at advanced level) is all about memorizing facts is an unnecessarily reductive point as are the dubious confessionals from people that claim a lot of people they met in college were 'thick'.

It's a s meaningless and untrue as saying that anybody that opts for non-scholastic fields like professional trades are non-literate.

maguic24

Tarzana wrote: »

Oh sorry, meant to highlight the right left bit too, I meant I also still confuse them.

I don't know how I passed my driving test. I got really nervous whenever the tester said right or left, I really had to concentrate.

Right hand, the hand you write with is what I kept saying to myself....it's the only way I got by......:pac:

endacl

MaroonAndGreen wrote: »

Always wondered is the crowd on Boards an intelligent, educated lot!

Id guess we are, poll added.

Poll is meaningless unless you factor in age...

2011

Over 70% of those that took part in the poll claim to have a level 8 qualification or higher.
Yeah, right! :rolleyes:

I don't believe that for a minute.

coffee_cake

340 people having a degree or masters, insane, right...

endacl

2011 wrote: »

Over 70% of those that took part in the poll claim to have a level 8 qualification or higher.
Yeah, right! :rolleyes:

I don't believe that for a minute.

I have four. From three different institutions. I collect education...

Do you require certified copies of parchments and transcripts?

username123

2011 wrote: »

Over 70% of those that took part in the poll claim to have a level 8 qualification or higher.
Yeah, right! :rolleyes:

I don't believe that for a minute.

According to the last census the percentage of people in Ireland with degrees was something like 30%. Of course this was an average, the lower age groups had a much higher percentage per age group. I'll have a look for the detail, it was interesting. I was a far more rare specimen 20 years ago.

OldNotWIse

I'm currently on level 9...



...and last week when I was tired I tried to put a plate in the washing machine

username123

username123 wrote: »

According to the last census the percentage of people in Ireland with degrees was something like 30%. Of course this was an average, the lower age groups had a much higher percentage per age group. I'll have a look for the detail, it was interesting. I was a far more rare specimen 20 years ago.

There we go: http://www.cso.ie/en/media/csoie/census/documents/census2011profile9/Profile,9,What,we,know,full,doc,for,web.pdf

Check out the table on page 7 of this PDF, plus the other facts given. I always thought they presented the percentage facts in a misleading manner in this document. Anyway, it's clear that we are becoming a far more educated lot as we go.

Seaneh

Level 7 but just finished a level 5 in another field as a way of getting into a level 8 which I start in September.

2011

endacl wrote: »

I have four. From three different institutions. I collect education...



Do you require certified copies of parchments and transcripts?

Congratulations you have just demonstrated how inadequate our education system is.

Despite the fact that you are so highly qualified you seem lack the capability to grasp the very simple point that I have made.

steddyeddy

Tarzana wrote: »

No, you learned the name of the pathway in five seconds. Not the mechanism. You couldn't explain the pathway in-depth from that. When I was learning these pathways in second year of college, it took me weeks to understand the mechanisms behind this and all the other pathways properly. Weeks. This involved not just learning off the molecule names at each step of the way, but studying their structure and understanding how the various enzymes changed their structure to move on to the next step. That's learning. And that's what will stick in your head and come back to you quickly with revision.

The mechanism is just a number of steps. Enzyme catalyses the conversion of one molecule to another. Just learn the enzyme and substrate name. Draw out the structures to remember them and look at the reaction mechanism if you want but that's all memory.

Where intelligence comes in imo is the elucidation of these pathways without prior knowledge. I.e. discovering a pathway and determining the structures using spectroscopy NMR, absorbance or mass spec.

Amirani

bluewolf wrote: »

340 people having a degree or masters, insane, right...

It's the same old thing. People expect self-reporting surveys on an Internet discussion site to be representative of the general populace.

340 people is an insane amount alright.

endacl

2011 wrote: »

Congratulations you have just demonstrated how inadequate our education system is.

Despite the fact that you are so highly qualified you seem lack the capability to grasp the very simple point that I have made.

"I don't believe that for a minute" suggests that you refute the results of the poll, not that they are inaccurate. I offered to provide some small measure of evidence to confirm the accuracy of my contribution.

Do you know what point you were trying to make? You may need to restate your premise.

2011

endacl wrote: »

"I don't believe that for a minute" suggests that you refute the results of the poll, not that they are inaccurate. I offered to provide some small measure of evidence to confirm the accuracy of my contribution.

Do you know what point you were trying to make? You may need to restate your premise.

You still can't see how your post #169 misses the point.

coffee_cake

What point
"I don't believe the people in the poll have these qualifications"
"Well I can prove mine anyway"
"You don't get it!!"

IrishAlice

nibtrix wrote: »

I believe ACA is counted as a Level 9, I don't know about ACCA

ACCA is also a level 9 and by all accounts both are harder than any accountancy masters.

Funny considering for most lecturing posts in universities and IT's they want someone with a masters upwards.

UCDVet

Worthless poll is worthless....

endacl

2011 wrote: »

You still can't see how your post #169 misses the point.

No. I don't care. The poll is meaningless beyond the craic we can knock out of it. There's no point to it in the same way as there's no point to a magazine issue with one if those 'readers favourite...' lists.

Relaxez les cacksez.