Growing up we learn the importance of education. We learn the importance of graduating high school and attending College or University. We learn that without an education, we will not have a bright future or will not get a "good job" and make lots of money. Still to this day, kids are taught this type of way of being in the world. High school kids that are preparing to transition out of school are constantly being asked what they are going to do after high school and what school they are going to attend. There is an expectation that is being messaged to kids these days that if they do not know what they want to do after high school, they will not have a bright future ahead of them.
We are taught that university is more "better than" college and that you can receive a "better job" if you attend university. I believe society has put college and university in a hierarchical level. A university degree is seen as an accomplishment that is better than a diploma that is received in college. The misconception that we have been taught is that people who completed university are somehow more skilled, more "educated" and more smarter than people who have not. I don't know when this belief came about but this is truly a huge misconception that allows us to see some people as better than others merely because of their level of education or lack thereof.
Attending university or college does not define who we are. No amount of level of education makes any person better or less than another. Many people believe that because they have a degree of some sort, they are "too good" or "too qualified" for a job or to be in relationship with someone, either romantically or in a friendship. When we walk around thinking we are better than another person merely because of an accomplishment we have, we miss the opportunity to know the other person for who they really are. No amount of education can make anyone better than another person. We are all of equal value and deserve dignity and respect. No matter what our social conditioning is, we must stop for a minute and really look at what we have been taught. When we walk around unconsciously believing what people have told us, we start to look at the world from other people's perspective, which is rooted in judgements. It may be true that specializing in a certain subject in college or university will help you gain more knowledge in that specific area and other areas of life, however to believe that someone is better than or of higher value than another because of their education is false.
To judge someone for not attending post-secondary education or for attending a trade or a school that does not meet your hierarchal educational status, not only allows you to miss getting to know someone for their true selves, it keeps you stuck in a social conditioning created by society that is false. There are many reasons why people don't attend university or college or any education after high school. Many people may not be able to afford to attend post secondary school, or have no interest in attending because they have other plans with their life, the list goes on and on. It is not our place to judge that, but only to see that person as human. No one is better than, or less than another, it is only a matter of learned conditioning.