I personally have no problem with that—but komponisto wants to make more detailed distinctions, and was originally (i.e., at the other end of the link in the great-grandparent of this comment) responding to someone else who wanted to count courses currently in progress as well as ones already completed.
I’m sure both of them have reasons (indeed, it’s not hard to guess some) and I bet they’re both aware that it’s usual simply to ask for highest qualification actually attained.
Kalium’s suggestion would in fact satisfy me—it captures the distinction between someone who went to college/graduate school but didn’t finish and someone who never went in the first place.
I disagree with your comment above that
the distinction between “started work on degree X, but abandoned it” and “currently working towards degree X” is almost as large as that between either of those and “never attempted degree X.
For a completely hypothetical example, let
A = someone with a B.A. who spent 6 years in a Ph.D. program and left without finishing
B = someone with a B.A. currently in a Ph.D. program who hasn’t finished yet
C = someone who completed a Ph.D
and
D = someone with a B.A. who never entered a Ph.D. program..
My view is that there should be some notion of “education level” that clusters together A,B, and C, as distinct from D; but “highest degree attained” clusters A,B, and D as distinct from C, and your proposal seems to put A, D in one cluster and B, C in another.
I personally have no problem with that—but komponisto wants to make more detailed distinctions, and was originally (i.e., at the other end of the link in the great-grandparent of this comment) responding to someone else who wanted to count courses currently in progress as well as ones already completed.
I’m sure both of them have reasons (indeed, it’s not hard to guess some) and I bet they’re both aware that it’s usual simply to ask for highest qualification actually attained.
Kalium’s suggestion would in fact satisfy me—it captures the distinction between someone who went to college/graduate school but didn’t finish and someone who never went in the first place.
I disagree with your comment above that
For a completely hypothetical example, let
A = someone with a B.A. who spent 6 years in a Ph.D. program and left without finishing
B = someone with a B.A. currently in a Ph.D. program who hasn’t finished yet
C = someone who completed a Ph.D
and
D = someone with a B.A. who never entered a Ph.D. program..
My view is that there should be some notion of “education level” that clusters together A,B, and C, as distinct from D; but “highest degree attained” clusters A,B, and D as distinct from C, and your proposal seems to put A, D in one cluster and B, C in another.