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View Poll Results: What is the highest level of education you have completed?
Less than High School 7 3.17%
High School 32 14.48%
Associates 26 11.76%
Bachelor's 74 33.48%
Masters 64 28.96%
PhD 18 8.14%
Voters: 221. You may not vote on this poll

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Old 08-02-2011, 09:37 PM   #1
user_none
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Are readers more educated than non-readers?

Something I've noticed working on calibre and now Sigil is the education level of other developers. Calibre has multiple PhDs working on it. Valloric (who created Sigil) has a Masters. After taking over Sigil I'm getting bug fixes submitted by a PhD (not one of the calibre ones). It seems like there is an over representation of people with advanced degrees (I mean really advanced) working on these projects.

I'm sure I can find accurate information on this but a poll is more fun. I want to see what the education level (highest level completed) of MobileRead members is. My suspicion is there will be an over representation of highly educated people here. Which, by extension, might mean something about the type of person that is more likely to be a reader.

To get things started, I have a Bachelor's degree.
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Old 08-02-2011, 10:20 PM   #2
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Quote:
Originally Posted by user_none View Post
Which, by extension, might mean something about the type of person that is more likely to be a reader.
My father-in-law is a voracious and most learned reader. However he left school early and after spending time in the army, became a fully qualified fitter and turner.

so though he does not slot into your poll regarding level of education (achieving a trade diploma), reading is certainly not limited to the level of education one achieves.

I know some pretty dumb, unimaginative and uninformed professionals, both within my profession and without!
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Old 08-02-2011, 10:23 PM   #3
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I've found that a lot of jobs that require a college degree don't really need one. All you should be required is a high school diploma. That basically devalues a college degree. I've looked at job listings and said, yep, I can do all of that except for the college degree.
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Old 08-02-2011, 10:26 PM   #4
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I think it's pretty simple. People that like to read are less likely to be afraid of the reading required for some sort of college degree.

Although, hearing or reading some people's reading or writing at college is painful - a lot of people can really only do it on a minimal sort of level - even college people.

Last edited by GreenMonkey; 08-03-2011 at 12:20 AM.
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Old 08-02-2011, 10:29 PM   #5
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A reader who keeps his/her reader in a cover is smarter then a reader who does not keep his/her reader in a cover.
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Old 08-02-2011, 10:31 PM   #6
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I know several people with advanced degrees who haven't read since college.

I know several people with a GED (High School general equivalency degree) that are voracious readers.

Readers are taught early to love books and it *generally* doesn't make a lot of difference what their education level is.
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Old 08-02-2011, 10:39 PM   #7
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I almost failed 3rd grade because I was too busy reading to do homework lmao.
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Old 08-02-2011, 11:14 PM   #8
pidgeon92
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A terrific idea for a poll. Hopefully there will be a lot of responses, I am curious myself. I wish I knew more people who read for pleasure.
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Old 08-02-2011, 11:34 PM   #9
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A good idea for a poll, but you left out other doctorates - M.D., J.D., DDS, D.D., Sc.D., Ed.D, etc.
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Old 08-03-2011, 04:44 AM   #10
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These things also depend on age. When I first started school in England, the school leaving age was 14. One could go on beyond that, but most people didn't. By the time I went to university, the leaving age had gone up to 15 and the proportion of people who went to university was miniscule. Higher degrees were also less commonly taken as well. Some of the dons who taught me at Oxford had only the MA. (I have that too, but put bachelor's degree in the poll, since for historical reasons the Oxford and Cambridge MAs don't involve extra work but merely acknowledge seniority.)

In my lifetime the school leaving age has risen to 16 and many new universities have come into existence, with the result that a much higher proportion of the population go on to tertiary education. With the increase in graduates, there has also arisen a need for higher degrees to differentiate more between graduates.

Going back to before my lifetime, my grandfather left school at 12. We who have had educational opportunities are truly lucky.
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Old 08-03-2011, 06:45 AM   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Andrew H. View Post
A good idea for a poll, but you left out other doctorates - M.D., J.D., DDS, D.D., Sc.D., Ed.D, etc.
I'm going to put other doctorates are on the same level as a doctorate of philosophy. Even though an M.D. will argue that they are complete different than a J.D. they're both doctorate degrees.

Quote:
Originally Posted by DMB
These things also depend on age.
Very true. If you're 19 you probably won't have completed anything above High School. There are also other issues such as socio-economic status that will influence a persons education. I'm also using a representation of the USA's education model. However, that's why this is a fun poll, which will hopefully create an interesting discussion, and not a scientific study.
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Old 08-03-2011, 06:50 AM   #12
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A good idea for a poll, but you left out other doctorates - M.D., J.D., DDS, D.D., Sc.D., Ed.D, etc.
and a fair few others. I have medical specialty fellowship which is kinda like US boards; our universities accept it as equivalent to a PhD so I 'voted' for that.

There will always be exceptions - people with no qualifications who read voraciously, others with many who don't (outside of their job).

However I do suspect the general trend would be towards more education = a higher probability of reading, also that people who's education leans towards the humanities will on average read more than engineers.
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Old 08-03-2011, 07:52 AM   #13
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i think it depends what types of book you read,
i read books of all genres, and i think it has given me a very good general knowledge of a wide range of subjects such as history for example.

but i may not have that knowledge if i only read fantasy books for example.

mick.
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Old 08-03-2011, 08:05 AM   #14
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reading and education

Enjoyment of reading is unlikely to depend on your education level. More likely, your education level depends on your enjoyment of reading (among other things). Reading and education was not a family trait from my childhood, it was an escape and I thank a couple of fine teachers for that.

Fantasy books often have surprising information available in them which can spark a curious mind. Two of the many that spring to mind are the intricacies and jargon of silk production and the mechanics of luna tides both of which were brought to my attention via fantasy books at 12 yrs old.

It doesn't matter what you read to start with, only that you read at all.
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Old 08-03-2011, 08:07 AM   #15
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I started reading when I was young. I think my desire for reading created a passion in me to learn more. This continued into my education. I always wanted and still do want to learn as much as I can. Reading, no matter what the genre, gives individuals the necessary tools to accomplish this.

I have more than one Masters degrees and my thirst to learn and read more is still there even though I am now a lot older.
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