I want these opinions to not matter. Thats my whole motivation for success.
But they do. Bosses, professors, even peers. It all matters.
People making assumptions about your whole persona based on the little window they have into your life.
I just want to be respected the same way everybody else is.
That's your first mistake most people don't respect or like other people. They just tolerate each other due to the constraints society puts on public interaction.
Now in some instances you might be lucky and the people around you will generally be polite and respectful but even in those situations someones bias and ignorance might come through in small talk or in a oddly worded observation.
It happened all the time when I undergrad and when I worked for a few years after school, and its happening now that I am in a masters program. I make a note of who does it to avoid them in the future. I then choose to ignore it because I have better things to do than consider the bias or negativity of people who at best are acquaintance.
Don't assume because people have attained a degree that they are educated or intelligent, mature, or even logical. All a degree implies is a specialty on a topic and the ability to put on airs of being sophisticated.
Just get money and style on those fools, spending time to consider their opinions to be anything but foolishness is an exercise in futility.
