In defense of the uneducated

 

Over the course of the past half year, just like most presidential election cycles before it, the national press, pollsters, and pundits have taken too much delight in classifying certain sectors of our population as “non-college educated”, “poorly-educated”, or “uneducated”. Those titles will only grow in use the closer we get to November.

 

Rather than being used, and only sparingly, as a demographic category, the moniker of uneducated instead has become a common qualifier, a dismissive way of looking at the half of working-age adults who don’t hold a college degree. Reading between the lines, it’s almost as if they want you to assume they are dupes and rubes because they lack a diploma and therefore are unable to make sound decisions about who should represent them in Washington.

 

Well, I hate to break it to those who think four years in a university grants unprecedented knowledge and understanding, but those who don’t have a degree can be, in many ways, just as intelligent as – and often more intelligent than – those who do.

 

I can say this unequivocally because almost all of the people in my life are allegedly uneducated.

 

I work at a business of 150 people where maybe a half-dozen of us graduated from college. Yet, somehow, despite being an uneducated environment, the company and those families are succeeding. That’s because our ranks are filled by men and women who understand the physical and mental work needed to make the things that consumers desire. They do magic, using science, technology, skill, brain and brawn to transform plastic into products. We have general laborers, technical personnel and tradesmen whose breadth of knowledge, intelligence and critical thinking skills would shame many with college diplomas.

 

I am friends with electricians, plumbers, repairmen and first responders who never went to college but still possess incredible amounts of skills  -- whether learned by experience or via certificate programs (which pundits still consider to show a lack of education). They bring much-need and complex services and safety to those who can’t repair a faucet, replace an outlet, change their oil and administer life-saving first aid.  

 

I live in a community the economy of which is driven by agriculture. Most of the farmers don’t have degrees but like my guys and gals at my workplace possess a Renaissance Man’s understanding – an incredible depth of knowledge of a variety of topics, from heavy equipment to plant science to animal husbandry to marketing and economics. They know what it takes to transform seeds into a healthy harvest, or how to grow calves into living, breathing milk machines, or how to get their goods to market and balance their books.

 

My extended family, for the most part, don’t have or didn’t have college degrees. Somehow, those uneducated mothers, grandparents, aunts and uncles raised wonderful high-character families, held excellent jobs, and made an impact in their communities. I am who I am because of who they are and I’m grateful for that and how I’ve turned out.

 

So, remember, before going off blasting, blaming, and shaming the uneducated in the coming months, throw away your ugly stereotyping and consider who they are. They are your families, friends, neighbors and coworkers, people who despite their alleged lack of knowledge have the brains that we as an advanced society need to put food in our markets, produce the goods we want and need, fix and build our homes and cars, save our lives, raise our families and serve our communities.

 

Some of the educated sure could learn a lot from them. 



From the 11 July 2024 Greater Niagara Newspapers and Wellsville Sun