<p>My father had a similar experience, working up from a small village to earning a PhD in engineering in the USA. However, his philosophy is to show people what he can do, instead of telling them…for example, when someone asks what degree he got, he tells them it is a graduate degree and then his boss or coworker tells them he got a PhD from a great engineering college. So, instead of trying to tell everyone you’re great, show them how smart and able you are…that is what makes people respect you. </p>
<p>Another idea that he passed down to me was the idea that hard work would gain you respect. A doctor, who does not try to learn and become better at what he does, should earn less respect than a janitor that tries his hardest and tries to help everyone; even though that doctor went through 12 years of schooling and makes 10x the salary of the janitor. And you do not know the story of everyone you see…everyone has a story and if you talk to them, you will find out a lot about them and their life.</p>
<p>As a society we need all the different types of people that we have. If everyone had great aspirations, if everyone wanted to be the top dog, how well would that work? We need teachers and policemen and firefighters and janitors because if there weren’t any who would do those jobs? We have to respect them because we can’t get along without them. Any person who achieves any level of greatness knows that he or she is only as good as the people supporting him. Look at the huge support staff for Barack Obama. But when you think about it it makes sense, you don’t want him to have to spend one minute on something mundane, his time is too valuable.</p>
<p>Some people are good at thinking big thoughts, some people are good at getting things done, some people are good at working with people, some people work best with minimal distractions. We need all the different types of people who bring their different strengths to the table to function well as a society.</p>
<p>Yes, I was flaming the OP; and there are a few that can be added here as I think we’ve all well discovered. There are some absolutely disgusting attitudes being demonstrated by a few here.</p>
<p>Respect has absolutely nothing to do with education. For those of you who believe so, I hope I never have to cross paths with you.</p>
<p>I have two masters degrees and some of the men and women I respect the most do not have any college experience at all. Until you learn that respect has nothing to do with education or a whole host of other factors, you will always be a very small man.</p>
<p>I know ring<em>of</em>fire in real life. Nothing he has stated about himself is true. He doesn’t work at an investment bank, in fact, he was kicked out of Duke for a semester for cheating on his math exam and is now forced to go to summer school to make up for his loss of classes. He has a HUGE inferiorty complex, and thus comes on here to boast about his school, yet lacks ANY sense of social awareness to realize he is making a complete fool of himself, no one gives a **** about his weird opinion.</p>
<p>I noticed that he told someone who turned down MIT for WVU that he would regret the decision for the rest of his life. I actually read a very comprehensive study that measured just that. It was done some time ago and it measured whether people who turned down top schools for scholarships at less prestigious schools were less/more/or equally successful in life. I believe it was done by Harvard. Surprise, surprise, it came out that ability pulled through regardless of location and there was no noticeable difference between the two groups.</p>
<p>My point in coming on here wasn’t so much to expose ring<em>of</em>fire, as it was to let you guys know you shouldn’t pay him much attention and he is best dealt with ignored. He has many problems (that he causes himself by his ignorance, arrogance, and inability to learn), and thus comes on here to attempt to establish superiority because in fact nobody at Duke pays him attention.</p>
<p>As far as Duke is concerned, by letting you in ring<em>of</em>fire, I think that makes a blatant statement about its “prestige”</p>
<p>Oh and as for the stories about his father. Complete BS. So don’t worry about it (whoever was scared that his reflected opinion of everyone at Duke’S). You are speaking to a very strange outlier of society with whom nobody else shares his beliefs.</p>
<p>It’s very funny because he comes on here to promote Duke, yet he doesn’t realize every time he posts something it probably kills off applications hahaha…</p>
<p>ROF posted onto a thread started by an apparently really arrogant IQ174 about IQ174’s being waitlisted at Duke but accepted at MIT and Dartmouth. OP wanted to know how he could <em>possibly</em> have been WL at Duke, given how generally great he is.</p>
<p>ROF’s reply is that IQ174’s failure was obviously due to ARROGANCE!!! perceived by the Duke adcom. ROF can clearly identify arrogance in others, but not himself. Unfortunately a common failure in humans.</p>
<p>pquote] When I taught Career Planning to graduate students at Tulane Med School, one of the FIRST things I told them was that in ANY new situation (whether school or work or the local country club), get to know the people who REALLY make things happen…the secretaries, assistants, security guards and yes - the janitorial and maintenance staff! THOSE are the people with influence and power. THOSE are the people you need to make things happen.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Absolutely. As a consultant, I <em>always</em> try to get in good with the admins. Always. Ring of fire, of course, would “use” them but dismiss them as not as worthy of respect as the mucky-mucks because they don’t have the education or the salary. Which is why, despite his prestige-diploma name, he’s really not going to get very far in life with his attitude. Truly “prestigious” people don’t have the need to measure, quantify and judge other people by what they make or their schooling. Ring of fire’s just a wannabe. A shame, because his father certainly sounds impressive.</p>
<p>Look, I think people are misinterpreting what I’m saying. I absolutely treat everyone I meet with respect and engage them in conversation. However, education is something I value a lot and I generally admire people who have sensational educational backgrounds because I know from personal experience the type of stellar qualities and attributes one needs to get into a good school and succeed there.</p>
<p>With regards to janitors, I realize they hold an important yet unpleasant role in society and still greet them in a friendly manner when I see them. However, I do not hold them in high regards by any means and will tell my future kids that these are the sort of people that didn’t work hard when they were younger and this is what became of them. I think unskilled workers can function as a good motivation for teenagers so they can set their priorities straight.</p>
<p>Let’s face it, no one chooses to be a janitor. Janitors belong to the lower rung of society and we should feel sorry about their plight and their pitiful condition should serve as an example of why education is important.</p>
<p>“However, education is something I value a lot and I generally admire people who have sensational educational backgrounds because I know from personal experience the type of stellar qualities and attributes one needs to get into a good school and succeed there.”</p>
<p>one’s qualities are derived from the type of person they are, not the school they attend. some of the hardest working people in the world today are the happiest, regardless of their job or education.</p>
<p>oh my…ring<em>of</em>fire - I really think you need to stop. You’re just making the situation much worse with comments like - </p>
<p>“With regards to janitors, … However, I do not hold them in high regards by any means and will tell my future kids that these are the sort of people that didn’t work hard when they were younger and this is what became of them.”</p>
<p>I am embarrassed for Ring-of-Fire. I want this thread to end but can’t help adding another pennyworth. The stuff about janitors is appalling. I am currently a part-time parish clerk. I earn very little, I look after my children and I am happy. I was college-educated, and I was happy then too. Ring-of-fire would have treated me with respect when I was at university, and with much disdain now. His loss.
In a book on management by Harry Beckwith, Meryl Streep says she is surprised to learn that life is more like high school than like college. Knowledge and advanced degrees are important in some ways - and that link earlier to the worthlessness of ivy league is really worth a read - but you succeed or fail in business, as in your family life, primarily by how likable you are, how you relate to other people, how you communicate with them, how you put their interests and needs in relation to your own, how comfortable you make them feel. Ring-of-fire has a lot to learn, and even more to unlearn…</p>
<p>Wouldn’t it be nice if life actually worked like this? You work hard, you succeed and live happily ever after? Oh wait…maybe some of those janitors had to drop out of high school to support their families. Maybe nobody ever expected them to go to college or explained to them that it was possible to get a scholarship. Maybe - this one’s a shocker! - maybe college just wasn’t the best choice for them and they are comfortable and content doing a simple, honest, much-needed job of “unskilled work”. </p>
<p>Nah, they probably were just lazy and now everyone gets to look down on them. Haha! What idiots!</p>
<p>ring<em>of</em>fire: I was going to tell you to stop digging, but vinceh covered that. </p>
<p>I gather that you think your last post was enlightened and magnanimous? You are completely missing the boat about what makes a person valuable. It has nothing to do with where or even whether they went to college, though. I feel sad for you if you don’t already know that.</p>