Early congrats on the master’s.

Another advantage of a degree is that it shows hiring authorities commitment to a goal. Maybe that’s a little touchy-feely, but there are also hiring authorities who look for athletes because they know the dedication that even high school athletics requires.

Kristen (who’s just 2 weeks away from her Master’s, FINALLY, and is SO over the school thing, holy crap)

I absolutely love reading these letters. They are the highlight in my day

…Bruce Lee actually struck me as potentially trying to be nice. At least, that would be a possibility if he were sadly misinformed about what “skills” are, or if he were one of those writers stuck in one writing style and entirely ignorant that he‘s the one who don’t quite know what he’s talking about.

There are different mediums of writing that require different “skills”. Okay, so your blog writing obviously wouldn’t do in a formal setting, but this isn’t a formal setting. Your writing style in this blog also isn’t indicative of your writing style elsewhere.

I wonder how Meatman72 explains all these unique websites for all our comments. —Oh, I forgot. Children his age tend not to handle logic very well. (Hm… That looks like a RuneScape username.)

Sometimes, I think some kids just feel upset so they go diss someone else who looks happy and wealthy so they feel better. …And I think that vocabulary choice in the previous sentence just showed my age.

Anyway, degrees don’t matter. Skills do.

But some people insist that a degree’s needed to have the skills. Thus my current technical writing major.

Well, my opinion is this:

It’s not the degree that matters, but what one does.

“Fair use” allows others to use the work for a number of reasons, one of which is for the purpose of commentary on the work. Parodies also fall under the protections of “fair use.” I believe Deb’s “We Get Letters” posts would qualify as commentary, and maybe even parody when she is making fun of people like meatman72.

Deb

No, wait, wrong account…. NoooOOOOooOOOOoo

Am I the only one who thinks that it’s not the degree in and of itself that matters, but what one does to attain that degree? Just a couple of opportunities that I had at college that I couldn’t have had elswhere: doing field work, writing a thesis, working collaboratively in seminar classes on issues for organizations, an internship at a wonderful organizationm doing research that on a topic I loved, working in small groups on position papers that nonprofits actually used, and getting feedback and counsel from extremely dedicated people who are professionals in their fields.

Of course, many people will have these opportunities throughout the course of their careers and professional work, but those who don’t go to school most likely simply can’t do this all before their 22nd birthday.

But Meatman72 has a point – not all of the comments here are by real people. I am not a real person, for one. I’m merely a figment of his overactive imagination, a condition that may be curable by very powerful drugs. My advice is that if you are reading this, you should seek help.

I’ve had editors email me a reply and tell me I’m the nicest person they’ve “talked to” all day. That makes me proud, because they realize I’m pleasant, and that keeps editors in contact.

Regardless of the circumstance, I believe we can act professional and kind, and not waste our time, or anyone else’s on being rude.

I think this is a great site, and commend your efforts to keep going. Ignore the rudeness, and keep up the great work!

Thank goodness for the positive letters ;0)

Smiles,
Michele

Let’s hear it for college newspapers. I have a degree (radio-TV), but it was work on two college newspapers (I transferred schools) that produced work. At the first one, we literally “pasted copy” using glue. But nothing can beat that experience, and a degree does open some doors, particularly at the start of a career.

Goodness Deb, how do you deal with people like that? Other than your remarkably witty responses. Those always make me laugh.

U R so dum. How do you even get threw the day? How do u even raze a suN? I am amazed at UR lack of basic writting skills.
—
Just kidding! I love you. Did anyone notice Bruce Lee missed proper punctuation here:

“This isn’t a criticism just encouragement to look into continuing education”

BTW, my college degree looks really nice in a box somewhere in the attic. The best thing college did for me was offer real-world experience on the college newspaper. The degree wasn’t necessary and most of my fellow graduates ventured into something entirely unrelated to their major.

Meatman72 takes the cake any time, though. LOL!

Not what I said at all. I DO NOT think everyone with a degree is a limited snob, but there are a lot of them out there. It just so happens I have a college degree myself. But to be a successful freelance writer, you do not need to have an ENglish degree. I think if you take a look at the ads that do want someone with a degree, more often than not they want someone with a specific major for the matter of knowledgeable expertise in the subject field.

And Mary, you’re so right- every single person with a degree is ignorant and snobby. They can ONLY write for CEOs and no one else. Thank God the world has you to provide all of the writing that people with degrees could never write. Learning is just evil.

I do wish you hadn’t included the first and last letters, though. Humorous or not, justified or not, being defensive is unflattering. If it warrants being ignored, ignore it. Plus, I read 300+ blogs – the less trash content, the better.

Keep up the good work – as I said, this site’s the best.