I've found people go too far the other way and are overly impressed by my degree!
.... I think actual intelligence (and more especially expertise) is valued
Very few people know that I have a degree, I don't tell them (but now I just did
). I certainly never told any of the handful of GFs I had before I married in case they assumed I was a nerdy and limp-wristed stereotype. Having a degree was not as common then, before Tony Blair decided that everyone should have one. After going out with one GF for a few months she suddenly said "
You're brainy, aren't you" : she was not very bright herself and it felt like an accusation rather than a compliment, like "
What are we doing together?".
But people compartmentalise others. If you are "brainy" (as she put it), in their eyes you are supposed to remain in some distant "brainy" circle, discussing philosophy and higher mathematics all day long. You don't get invited to parties, and you are not supposed to be physically fit, nor be capable of anything practical, nor be good looking, and you certainly cannot have any romantic ideas. If you try to escape from the compartment they have placed you in, people get angry and try to put you back.
However, people are very pleased to take advantage of any expertise you have, and assume you have the time to do it, and enjoy doing it. Fixing other people's computers is a prime example of that.