Society?

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Why is it that a person is expected to always follow societies mainstream idea, why does every person have to acheive something, before they are noticed. When your young, or at least when I was, I was told what grades were good to get at school, and that our way of life is great because of how many oppurtunities it has to offer! Why do I need to be offered an opprtunity, why can't I just do it? I have to take multiple class's at school to do physics, because that's there requirements, I'm self teaching myself physics now! Why do these rules come to apply to everyone, I was never told "this is how life will work, do you like it?", why should a person who has other means of living confirm to society? Now if this is complete crap let me know, but if it isnt, if there are others who feel the same way as me, then pls let me know.

And what's really ironic is that so many of the great scientists, the Keplers, Newtons etc. didn't go through anything comparable to our "education system" at all.

Yeah, I never understude what the difference was with learning subjects, and whether the person had a label of 'teacher', that made them the only one to teach me? I hate that labeling or uniform affect, they expect me to just beleive that soMeone is right because they have a uniform? I don't understand why I have to comply with it, don't get me wrong I love the USA, but it's not just here that has that affect other countries do also, it is illogical and doesn't make on bit of sence to me?

It's so employers don't have to think. If you have an accredited piece of paper from some college they know that you have learnt (topics) and how well you did (grades). They know what's in the package so to speak.
If you have been studing on your own (and I agree that this could make you better at a given subject than if you had been at the university) then they have no idea of your qualifications, and it would demand a lot of effort on their part to find out what you know and don't know (and maybe they can't because they don't know s**t about your field).
People are lazy, so they would rather take a not so good person with the right papers than make an effort to find out what gold is hidden deep inside this strange guy who has been sitting at home buried in books.
I am afraid it doesn't make much sense to those of us who believe that it's the knowledge and not the paper that matters, but I am afraid that what counts "out there" is not just knowledge but also a lot of the social rules about prestige (hence the right paper) and a lot of other stuff like being a good team player and all that jazz. If you have been studying in your own cellar they will expect you to be unsociable (is that the word?) and unable to work with other people, and that - I'm afraid - is the straight road to unemployment, no matter how brilliant you are. Sad but true.

So yes, appearance is everything. Think of the strange phenomenon that you have two identical handbags. One has a designer brand name attached to it and the other one hasn't. The first is extremely expensive and coveted and the other one can only be sold cheaply in the supermarket. Why? It's the same handbag goddammit! Well, the difference is hype and the role it plays in the social game. It's about the signals you send and where you place yourself in the social hierachy by having the designer bag etc. etc.

... and because people are plain stupid.

Hope this helps

Suppose that you work in the Human Resources department for a corporation, which we will name Basket-Weaving, Inc. Basket-Weaving, Inc. requires a new basketweaver because their last one retired. They put out an advertisement announcing that they are looking for qualified basketweavers to hire for their company. They receive something like 400 applications for the one job, and must now figure out who is the best hire for their company. In all likelihood, the people working in human resources know nothing about basketweaving, but they know that it's important to have a solid foundation in basketweaving and they believe that a degree in basketweaving indicates that a person has that foundation.

The first thing that human resources will do, is sort through the 400 applications, and throw away any that lack a degree in basketweaving. They won't see how smart you are, or how great a basketweaver you have taught yourself to be. Your application is in the garbage, and some schmuck who schlepped through four years of undergraduate education is now a professional basketweaver.

Are there exceptions to this? Certainly. There are people who succeed in their fields without college degrees. Is it possible that you can get into an academic department without a degree in physics. It is almost certain that you will not. Society has to deal in the aggregate. As a result, it is not tailored to your experience. Its rules are not made just to suit you, but to suit as many people as it can and still remain functional. Occasionally, this means we have to jump through hoops we believe are unnecessary. Welcome to life.

In addition to these, having a qualification also prooves you've taken the time and have the disicpline to work on something for a period of time.