I would note that two of the shrewdest people I have known in this vale of tears, my Mom and Dad, had one high school diploma between them. Confusing academic credentials with intelligence is a category error.
Burn of the Day
- Donald R. McClarey
Donald R. McClarey
Cradle Catholic. Active in the pro-life movement since 1973. Father of three, one in Heaven, and happily married for 43 years. Small town lawyer and amateur historian. Former president of the board of directors of the local crisis pregnancy center for a decade.
My response to him;
Dumb. Deplorable. Garbage folk.
Yup. That’s me, you looser.
I guess it makes him feel better to say that. It also makes him sound stupid.
No college degree. I read Cicero and Seneca in the original Latin, as well as the Vulgata Biblia (thanks to a wonderful High School Latin teacher). I teach nuclear systems engineering (thanks to the US Navy). I authored the entire 2500 page software engineering program for digital instrumentation and controls at my employer, Neutrons ‘R Us, and the US NRC pronounced it “acceptable,” the highest praise anyone ever gets from any federal regulator. And I voted for Donald Trump.
Yes, now I will be accused of pride, of bragging, of showing off, of making myself better than others, etc., all the usual crimes for telling the simple truth.
I thank God that I never went to college. I provide training to people from college in my classes, and some of them (NOT all) are so woke that they are dumber than dirt and can be taught nothing of substance. Others, however, have happily learned their subject matter in higher education despite the impediment of liberal progressive professors, and I am privileged to work side-by-side such real engineering geniuses from whom I daily learn.
college degrees are neither necessary nor sufficient conditions for continuing intelligent behavior. (BTW, my undergraduate BS–with honor–is from Caltech, my MS and Ph.D. from Harvard. These demonstrate a knowledge of science and math, but not more than that. At Harvard the brightest were chosen for the Society of Fellows, and one of these, Robert Pound, in the physics department, never did receive a Ph.D.)
You’re a real scientist, Dr. Kurland, and I work beside some people like you (albeit younger) with advanced degrees who review some of the work that I do (my wife pities them that they must read my procedures and sometimes sit through my training classes). Those kinds of people are the reason for my success in a 40+ year career in commercial nuclear power
Any engineer worth his/her salt knows the field techs in most instances know the real deal, and they’re not stupid!
Ph.D. in mechanical engineering here. Always talk to the technicians before you do something. They know how things actually work.
As the Wizard of Oz says, “Where I come from, men go to great universities… with no more brains than you have!”
All an education can do for an intelligent person is to give him or her a sharper focus for the same.
Never confuse the knowledge you have collected with the ability to think.
Also, if you have to show me you’re smart by citing what degrees you have acquired, you’re already losing the argument!
Akin to saying that you’re a good guy because lots of people like you.
I have a B.S., J.D., LL.M and a B.A (in order), the last in Theology. My beloved spouse never finished any college degree. She used to say that the more degrees people get, the dumber they get. I tried not to take offense. Even though she only had a high school diploma from her all girl’s Catholic school, she was one of the most profound thinkers I ever met. Praying and discussing scripture together, I’d invariably tilt towards the academic and she would quietly listen to me and then after I was done she would often have a one sentence perspective that was so profound that I was left speechless, which for a lawyer is a miracle. Maybe she was right. All those degree did make me dumber.
Other than her deep, childlike faith, her perspective could be summed up as moderation and common sense, something that is now uncommon.
As to the unnamed Harris supporter, she would have said that needing to tell people how many degrees you have is proof of an insecure person without real accomplishments.
In finishing the race that counts, is it the number of degree’s you attained while on Earth, or the degree to which you loved others?
May I learn to love more and be of service to others.
All for the Glory of God.
Ahem, Philip, your lack of education is quite obvious in your substitution of the possessive for the plural 🧐
It should be “degrees you attained” 🙄
Sarcasm over.
You and I both know that most everything worthwhile in theology was created before standard spelling, and much of it before punctuation!
The more I go back to those original guys like St Augustine the more I appreciate that our age is populated by pygmies who no longer even seek to stand upon giants so that we can see. We’d rather stay blind and make it up!
*Ahem, Philip, your lack of education is quite obvious..*
I have abused the comboxes at TAC for over 10 years now. I think Don allows it as a form of mandatory penance for those who are forced to read my comments, but that is a prideful thought.
Could just be that it’s easier to just skip my horrible abuses by not reading them.
Either way, I do put folks through a level of Purgatory that they don’t deserve.
English as a second language?
😵💫
To you and the rest of the TAC commentators..good news.
A new 90 days of fasts is coming up soon.
January 20th starts Exodus 90.
The use of phone activity is cut back to essentials only.
Thank goodness. An early Spring break for you all.
Peace.
Philip-
May God make good use of your fast.
TBO.
Thank you.
I have a BBA from Kent State. It has never made me smarter than a roofer or plumber or a mechanic or an electrician or a welder.
I graduated 37 years ago. I learned more from life than I did from college.