I've decided not to post a resume on this site. It wont help me get a job. I am not what empolyers look for these days but I am what they need most. Let me explain.
As educated and articulate as I may be, I did not finish my degree. In fact, the vast majority of my education came from home schooling. I attended public school as well, but considering what I learned there, I chalk that up to free day care for my parents. I do not have th documentation to let an employer know that I am literate but as you read this, I'm sure you've seen that I am. I know I'm qualified because during my career I've taught 17 people at 4 companies how to be my boss. I am a "natural" because I have a way of explaining things that people get the first time. Because of this, I am qualified to train managers but I am not qualified to be one.
Our society has gotten to the point that it values nothing that hasn't been bought. Because I got my education for free, it has no value in the "real world". I only paid for two years worth of classes in my field but I was born with a GOD granted gift for writing. I have seen the educated at work. I have worked for several companies where the highly educated made stupid mistakes that the average person on the floor would have known better than to even try. This whole wal street and mortgaage mess isn't the fault of uneducated people. Neither is our healthcare crisis but no one like to admit that education doesn't cure all. It baffles my mind that just because someone has a document we assume they are great at managing money, people, or something else of value, when it many cases all it means is that they are just good at taking tests. Their aptitude is shown lackluster as soon as they are confronted with a task they can't delegate away. On the other hand. Many a protelariate has struggled financially because they just couldn't afford to finish paying for the proof of their knowledge.
Just to prove a point, I once took a local newspaper and edited it in red ink with all the errors I could find. Even corrected a few ads. I sent it to their main office with a letter explaining why I had done this. See, a few years prior, I was turned down by that same newspaper for a position as a copy editor because of my lack of education. The person they hired was the one that sent the paper to press looking like something I wouldn't have presented to an advisor in high school. Of course you know they merely asked me to send them another resume with my "accomplisments" and "cerifications" listed.... as if the badly written paperthey had released wasn't enough proof that they hired the wrong person. lol
I find it rather telling that a person that could write well enough to correct that newspaper, as well as get you to read this far into a blog post, can be considered a failure and unemployable because I do not hold a degree. I blog on three other sites and post to a few other forums but that's all. I've done speaking engagements for friends that hold positions with a local college, helped a dear friend of mine create a program for the branch of the library she manages, and have even gotten a few publishing houses to seriously consider my work. I have quite the little following and get a lot of hits on Blackplanet but it all boils down to what I can prove I know. All I can document is that I have a G.E.D. So any skill that I have will continue to go unrespected because I am not willing to pay $40,000 to be taught what I have known for years and learned for free. In my opinion it would be bad math to pay for knowledge I already have. I prefer to spend it obtaining something that doesn't already belong to me.
I think it's time that people remembered that education is helpful but formal teaching is obviously not the only way to educate oneself or one's child. Sitting in a class with a few hundred other students is not indicative of a person's talent, intelligence, nor ability. In some cases a degree is just bad financial math. Robert Kiyosaki made that statement in "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" and made the best seller list. I make that statement and it may not get me anything but a few ignorant comments.
Just to make sure you truly understand what I am saying in this post, I will make this final statement and pose a question. A group of highly educated people built the Titanic, but one simple man with a word in his ear and determination in his heart built the Ark. On which ship would you rather to be a passenger?
Vanessa thanks for the blog post as I can appreciate what you are saying, but unless you plan to start your own business, you will continue to train people without ever receiving the appropriate personal and monetary rewards. My dear sister, degrees and titles are what 'makes the world go round'. If you are a woman of color it makes it more difficult for people to deny you for positions that you are qualified for. I think you should rethink your long term plan, unless you don’t mind being frustrated. Much love to you.
I was waiting on a response such as this and I got it. lol Obviously my point is that people/employers/ need to learn to think outside the box if they really want results. Lets face it. The state of the country was created by seemingly educated people. The have ruined the business that many an uneducated person built from the ground up. I am not frustrated by my "lack", I am annoyed that my talents are ignored by lesser minds.
I personally, don't feel the need to "prove" my talent by wasting money to get a tool I already posses. If I already own a hammer, what good does it do me to waste money, time, and energy hunting for one? That is the point of this post and that's what I feel is being missed by not just you but our society at large.
Tuesday, November 18th 2008 at 6:31AM
Vanessa Yates
Yes I have. Unfortunately I have had a hard tme finding schools that offer one for my chosen major which is Urban/African American Studies. Of course this was a few years ago so I probably would do myself a favor by looking into it again. At one point, Cleveland State was "looking into" accepting life experience for credit but they hadn't as of my last inquiry. If they have implemented one I'd already be degreed based on 22 years of community involvement plus work experience. Thank you for the information. I will check into that arena again.
Even if I do manage to get a degree by that method , it would still be a defeat in my eyes on principle. I would "proving" my abilities with a reference, not by aptitude. It just burns me that no matter what, I know I still have to get someone else to "verify" my skills. It's not the way things should be done. There are many successful people that made it big without degrees, many of our best and brightest fit in this category. All they needed was the opportunity to prove themselves and they did so with flying coors. I will admit to being a tad militant about this issue. IMO, it defeats the purpose of what they claim they truly want. I could spend hours, possibly days speaking on the mess that business theory alone has created in the work place. It's my opinion that som of th coursework taught at college level is exactly what is creating the mess we are in. Maybe if they taught Dale Carnegie I'd have more respect for the coursework....
Wednesday, November 19th 2008 at 3:08AM
Vanessa Yates
Well Vanessa! You have done it again! You know that I see eye to eye with you on this subject and yes if we don't have those little pieces of paper, our talents are worthless in the business world. I know the skills you have and what you have accomplished in the 11 years that I have known you. I have heard about the past experiences that you had accomplished before then, but that doesn't change the fact that society's validation is what's needed in order to truly succeed. That is unless someone gives you that one lucky break and I honestly hope they do give it to you sooner rather than later because you deserve it.
Wednesday, November 19th 2008 at 9:59AM
Cathy Fuller
