| | Hi Erica,
I would not say a formal education makes someone a "true" intellectual, or even an intellectual. I tend to use the term to describe people who are interested in and pursue ideas. Obviously there are plenty of people who are well educated and that doesn't apply to. In fact, working among engineers, I've found that most of them aren't interested in ideas anymore.
But maybe for the same reason you equated the two, many others do as well. They expect if they're going to a philosophy conference or meeting, they'll get the kind of "intellectuals" that you were talking about. And since I've met people who were shocked at the degree of education among people, it seemed like a useful caveat.
For myself, I've found education to be less significant than whether someone has an active or passive mind. That's why you would be welcome at any conference. Part of the "feeling like you belong" comes from the common view among the participants that ideas really matter. When you get passionate about these ideas, you don't get the usual response from non-Objectivists that treat you like you're taking things way too seriously. Instead, even if others aren't particularly interested in those particular ideas, they convey that they understand and accept your feelings about it. Not everyone in Galt's Gulch has the same professional interests, but they can all respect the achievements and work of the other inhabitants.
That being said, I don't want to pretend that education doesn't matter at all. I think Objectivism promotes a vision of an ideal person. Wealthy, successful, educated, cultured in the arts, passionate, etc. We rarely start off with any of these, but part of that vision is to improve ourselves and seek the qualities what will improve our lives. Objectivism doesn't demand that everyone be a hero, but it should never be used as an excuse not to move in that direction. The most important part is that people are pursuing these values. As Glenn's comment about my Masters implies, there's always further you can go. So the state is far less important then the process.
But the state is still important. I have friends that can't read the Fountainhead because there are too many big words they don't understand. I've heard of people (pre-school teachers, actually), who weren't able to identify "The country north of the United States". How does one talk about the evils of Communism when they don't know the slightest bit about the Soviet Union? How does one talk about the robber barons when they've never heard of them? How does one talk about current politics when they don't know basic geography, what the welfare state is, or what the Constitution says? How does one talk about the philosophy of science when they don't know Newton or what Quantum Physics is? Education certainly matters.
I can also give a more specific form of this. I've been to meetings where people were almost entirely ignorant of Objectivist philosophy. That's not always a problem, depending on the venue. If it's one on one, then it's an opportunity to explain to a newcomer these great ideas. If it's a group discussion, it really, really hurts. The conversation has to stay at the level of person with the least understanding. If you expect to go to a meeting and have a very detailed, ground-breaking discussion, it won't happen. For instance, I went to one where we sat for an hour and a half explaining to one guy that we don't accept science "on faith". He was equating scientific theories with religious beliefs. And he actually wasn't a newcomer. Most of my experiences have been that way.
There are those people who are "elitist" or "snobs" or whatever, like you mention, who look down upon someone with less education, as if their own education is a symbol of status and not simply a tool. For those people, they should avoid Objectivist meetings for everyone's sake, not just their own. But my warning is more about keeping expectations reasonable. The thing the people have in common is an interest in these particular ideas, and you can't assume or expect anything else.
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