I personally think that the more educated people a society has, the more interesting people there are to meet.
While you were in college all the non-dull non-college people were out there having different life experiences than you-- learning things you don't know about.
In many ways education makes us more homogeneous. To an extent this can help make each other seem more interesting because it gives us common language and intellectual frameworks to have discussions, it dispenses with some boring preliminaries. But beyond that point, I think sharing common education makes people actually less interesting, not more.
Particularly, that kind of feeling inadequate in spite of success is a likely a form of imposter syndrome. Many other people experience it, including people with degrees (there is always someone else with more or more illustrious degrees). Many people feel better just knowing that other, even obviously super-accomplished people, have felt that way and many people seem to more or less age out of it.
While I can't refute the existence of that social stigma, at least I found that there isn't much of that in actuality... but that doesn't prevent it from existing in your head. Of course, there are people who always find something to be snooty about. If it's not the pedigree of your academic credentials it'll be about the brand of your sneakers. Surrounding yourself with thoughtful and emotionally healthy people can help.
At least that is what I experienced and heard from others.
Cheers
> Of course there are dull people out there but do you think that most people without college degrees are dull
I meant precisely what I said. I don't intend to make a broad statistical statement based on my limited personal annecdotes.
> While you were in college all the non-dull non-college people were out there having different life experiences than you-- learning things you don't know about.
I don't have a college degree. There are many thing I don't know about, which is why I like talking to educated people.
> In many ways education makes us more homogeneous.
I strongly disagree. ”Education” only creates homogeneity to the degree to which educational institutions focus on indoctrination over education.
I strongly support enouraging education for people of all genders, ethnicities, intelligences and socio-economic backgrounds because I think it will make the world a more interesting (and better) place.
Also, if one's particular interesting in learning extends to longterm travels, immersing oneself in foreign countries to study the languages or aspects of culture there, your male friends are probably not going to accompany you for more than a brief time. When people go on longterm travels, it is their partners that they rely on for companionship. (That holds, of course, for non-intellectual people traveling, too, as anyone in the bikepacking or overlanding scenes can tell you.)
For a bookish person, being in a relationship with a partner who merely has "good qualities", but who doesn't share that basic context, can mean feeling like one is not truly understood and there is a barrier between you. There is nothing worse than being in a relationship yet feeling alone.