You’re Too Educated…I Can’t Date You

It’s graduation season and congrats to all the black women earning degrees this year!! It’s your time to shine and you deserve it. With all the black girl magic spread on social media as we rack up degree after degree, I thought this would be an interesting time to pose a new question. Can having too much education deter a man? Is there a such thing as you are too educated?

I hold a Bachelor of Arts in journalism from The Ohio State University and a Masters of Art from Johns Hopkins University in digital communication like most of the black queens I surround myself with. I take pride in my two degrees and I have always been a good student and getting an education has always been something that was engrained in me, but I never thought in a million years that because of these accomplishments I could end up single. Yes girl, you heard it right…SINGLE!!!

Now I must take my hat off to my sisters because we are now the most educated group in the US. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, between 2009 and 2010 black women earned 68 percent of all associate degrees, 66 percent of bachelor’s degrees, 71 percent of master’s degrees and 65 percent of doctorate degrees. Now that is some serious black girl magic.

I recently had a conversation with a male friend of mine as he recalled a story where a friend of his who happens to be a black man told him and I quote: “I am never dating a woman with a degree again because they require to much”. Now this woman was in her late 20s and was clearly looking to get married and have children but in his eyes, she wanted too much. My friend confirmed she wasn’t asking for too much but she was at a point in her life where she wanted something permanent. This man is now dating a woman with a minimum wage job who as stolen from him and lied to him countless amounts of times, but since she doesn’t have a degree he believes she is the woman for him.

Education opens a lot of doors for black men and women and it does allow you to experience life through traveling, meeting other people of different cultures and backgrounds and it gives you a jump start on your independence. Sometimes when a man does not attend college they miss out on some of the life experiences that a woman learns as a collegiate and this can cause friction. It’s kind of like the old saying ‘when you know better, you do better’.  

Once a woman hits 30 she wants more. It’s like once you cross that thresh hold a light bulb goes off and you instantly start to move in the direction of solidifying your life whether that be your career, buying a house, getting married or having children. As a woman, we expect for the light bulb to go off in a man’s head as well. We want men to step up!!!!!!!!!

Listen men it’s okay if the light bulb doesn’t go off for you, but don’t use that as an excuse to exclude an educated woman. Dating a woman with an education can actual assist you with helping the light bulb go off. Let us help you grow, but you have to be willing and open to the help.

Photo Credit: www.qz.com