Missing out on university

is not necessarily the disaster or disgrace that some people apparently believe. Nor should it prevent people from succeeding or offering advice or information based on experience.

Let me provide a few examples to the person who suggested that another should not even comment because he wasn't a professional in the area. I am not going to suggest that untrained people should be giving medical advice or performing operations or that untrained people should be fully responsible for the design of aircraft, submarines or railway bridges. I am not going to suggest any other foolish options either.

But I once knew a man who left school at the age of twelve. He had no training at all in engineering but he designed and built a fruit picking machine. It worked. He ended up a multi-millionaire as a result of his design. With it he was a very pleasant person. He occasionally sat in our tutorial group waiting for his partner. Most of the time he would read a newspaper but, occasionally, our group tutor would cheekily ask him to comment. What he said was often something which would be not only highly relevant but thoughtful and even amusing. 

Another man I knew left school at the same age. He went to work on a farm and then went to war before returning to the farm. Much later, when his children had finished their formal education, he decided to try for his "matriculation" certificate. He came to the Senior Cat for advice and help and, while it took him several years, he did it. One of the subjects he studied was geography, another was history. 

In studying both these subjects he put some information together along with some personal observations on the land he had farmed for so long. He taught himself surveying techniques and went out to see if he could prove something that had puzzled him for some time. When he had done that he came to me and told me what he had found out. He had written a short piece about it. Did I think anyone would be interested, a newspaper perhaps? I suggested he first send it to someone at the university. In doing so I was not doubting what he had done. I was sure his research was meticulous and yes, it solved a mystery. His short piece, no more than three hundred words, appeared in a highly respected academic journal. 

Later still I told a woman who had only five years of schooling about these men. She had been interested in plants all her life and knew a great deal about them. Now she was telling me about something she had found she was sure had not been recognised before. She had done all the right things when discovering something new but wasn't sure whether she should say anything. Her children and I sent her off to the botany department at the university. They named the plant after her. 

No, they didn't go to university. Yes, they were self educated. They worked much harder than many people realised. I am proud to have known these people. Their failure to go to university didn't make them "stupid". Their work was just as "professional", perhaps more so, than some people who have been to university and take the careless view that they know more than they do. 

The person to whom this is directed, you know who you are, please take note and apologise to the friend you were so rude to yesterday. He fixed a problem and saved my friend thousands of dollars.