Experience vs. college degree

I have a non journalism degree but I did take some journalism courses. I think if you have the experience and not a degree, that would be of more value. In my market, most broadcast places do want someone with a journalism degree because as it was put to me, "it is a right of admission to the big leagues". I don't agree with this and I plan to defy the odds. A publication hired me three years ago, so I don't think a degree is everything.

 

If degrees are not important in this day and age, why are so many people who do the hiring requiring them of their applicants?
can any non-degreed person advocating skipping/dropping out of college on this thread please answer that question?
can a person get into the business without a degree? yes. Can that person be a great employee -- desker or writer? absolutely. But it's getting tougher without a degree. so why not bite the bullet, spend four years getting a degree and not have to worry about the Eugene's of the world who require a degree?

 

I just scrolled back four pages and I can't find one instance of someone "advocating skipping/dropping out of college."

 

I think we can all agree on this one. Canadian degrees don't get full credit.
I'm not sure of the exchange percentage, but I'm thinking it only counts for 2-2.5 years.

 

As long as it counts in my preferred country of employment (Canada), it gets full credit where I am concerned. ;D

 

The people-with-degrees-generally-know-more-than-people-without-degrees line is pretty damn ignorant. If tomorrow every adult without a college degree stopped working, this society would come to a grinding halt.

 

That's a false conclusion if I've ever read one.
You could say the same about brown eyes, left handers, those with over-bites, those using a looser notch on the belt...the list goes on...

 

Everyone knows that left-handers contribute next to nothing to society.

My point was that people who work in a culture where degrees are the norm may tend to forget that there are many important professions (many more important than producing a newspaper) where many, if not most, of the people don't have college degrees. Doesn't mean those people don't know as much; just means they know different things.

 

Ok. I can agree with all of that. Including left handers are worthless.

 

Translated: Because I appreciate the people who stock the Cheeto's at Wally World, the notion that college graduates are more educated is false.

I didn't mean to insinuate that the thread was taking on an anti-college tone. I just didn't want to give anyone about to make that choice the wrong impression.

I won't try arguing my premises any further other than to say that discounting it pretty much says that higher education is a fraud. If that's your bag, I'd love to see some sort of solid support.

 

Ninety percent of the dumbest people I know have college degrees.

And if you think my previous posts were referring to stockboys, you might want to read more than your educated self already does.

Finally, educated and intelligent are not the same thing.

 

Actually, I do think higher education is often a fraud. There are so many college graduates who come out of school overwhelmed and under-prepared by the expectations of a professional workplace, let alone the real world. But that's another story for another thread ...