Saturday, November 26, 2011

It's Tough Being Educated in and Uneducated World

Don't crucify me yet.  I'm not so arrogant that I think because someone is not college educated or has held a professional position, that they are not "smart."

I had the opportunity to serve on a jury this last week.  I was the only so called "white collar" type of person, everyone else had held jobs that in our society are called "blue collar."  Nothing wrong with that.  Life presents us with many scenarios and we make our choices of how we will live our lives.

However, I do believe that if you have an advanced degree and have worked in the professional world for several years, some of your thinking and viewpoints are going to be a little different than those who have held "blue collar" type jobs.  I'm not even saying your viewpoint would be better, just different.

These differences tend to come out when the group is trying to come to an agreement.  I admire the way these people seem to function more on common sense than a lot of people.  I, having worked in a professional environment and know that people often craft their words carefully and can lead you with an impressive vocabulary.  Sometimes, it's hard to cut through the fluff.

Attorneys are masters at crafting the words that will persuade the jury one way or another. When all is said and done, the jury is left to sort out what is real, what is right, who is to blame, etc.  This is where every one's views, opinions, biases, etc. are revealed.  I'm just saying it's interesting.  I happened to be the lone hold out of putting more of the blame on the defendant.  After awhile, I felt it was futile to try and explain my viewpoint.  I'm OK with that.  Is it my education and experience that caused me to have a different opinion that he others?  I'm sure it had a lot to do with it.  Does it mean I was right and they were wrong?  Who knows? 

No comments:

Post a Comment