I'm shocked, was that blunt discrimination? What should I do?

The first sentence in the description you gave kind of implies that a degree is required on top of experience etc. though it is not exactly stated. She was down right rude, though it does not count as discrimination.

Send an e-mail to her telling her to clarify her opening and to put "required" on the end of her sentence. Tell her that you did not appreciate her tone and her comment (list exactly what she said). Then send it to her, plus any other e-mail address you can find for anyone at the company. Be cordial though make it sound like a dig to her inability to write the English language.

Good luck!

Well, I read it like if you got experience in the process of getting your bachelor's degree, that would count. Also, some degrees allow you to use the "school of hard knocks," that is, they give you credit for life experience. Generally, this is a degree, like, say, in mechanics or engineering, that might let you get college credit for an apprenticeship or whatnot. But I think you'd still have to get the degree.

I agree, the secretary was quite rude. I once worked at a feather company--they stuffed pillows, stitched comforters, that sort of thing.

I fielded applications from people who were applying for a pillow-stuffing job. Holy crap, some of these people were so dense, they couldn't spell the name of the company, couldn't pronounce it, couldn't understand everything on the application.

To stuff pillows.

This is not a hard job. A nasty job, yes, but not difficult.

But I was still polite!

But back to you...civil service jobs in the States are veeerrry picky about things like that. They have very specific requirements, and if you don't seem to meet them, you won't even get an interview in which you can explain yourself.

I'm sorry you had a bad experience...but I'm not surprised. Stick around a while, and you'll hear jokes about the DMV, the post office, government offices...the jokes revolve around how rigid, inefficient, and unhelpful the offices and their employees are.

Sometimes, stereotypes are more true than we'd like them to be.

I would read that ad to indicate that a minimum of a four year degree was a requirement for the position.

That being said, the woman with whom you dealt was a crass boor and should be reported to the management of the agency involved. That type of response is simply uncalled for and downright out of line. She needs to be spoken with and possibly disciplined by the agency for her comment.

I think you should report this incident to her superviser, it sounds very discrimation to me. So what if you misunderstand the requirement, then she can turn you down politely. But that comment just out of line. (maybe she is the one who don't understand the requirement, because she can read English, not understanding it.)