All tagged Education
If you’re going to make the time and incur the expense of attending a trade conference, it’s worth trying to actually learn something while you’re there.
I was at just such a conference recently and sat down to listen to a talk. A few minutes before the start of the session, a couple of men sat behind me and immediately launched into a conversation amongst themselves.
It took me a while to understand that the idea of "learning" was not a one and done concept but an enduring, long lasting one.
There are a number of reasons for this as I discuss in today's episode and my key message or takeaway is that, while we've made progress over the years, the path is continuous - so long as we shift how we think about it.
At what point do we stop asking questions?
It comes very naturally to us when we’re young, but at some point, so many of us, simply stop.
There are many reasons for this. It could be that it wasn’t encouraged at home. Or it could be that our schools and our teachers didn’t want to hear them. Or it could be peer related, not wanting to seem ‘out of place’ with our friends. (I can’t quite decide which of those is the worst.)
This month's topics focus on personal war stories and observations.
Today's episode discusses how, in our quest for 'more', we’ve confused learning, knowledge and credibility with degrees, diplomas and doctorates. We need a reset in our collective thinking and biases on the subject of education.
Bruce Lee’s philosophy when it came to learning was that there was no single best way to learn.
He didn’t prescribe to the idea of fixed patterns and approaches to education, rather he believed that real education is unique to the individual. It comes from absorbing what’s helpful (in your own judgement) rejecting what’s not and then defining your own ‘truth’, your own path forward.
It took me a while to get to grips with the fact that “learning” needed to be a continuous process in life. That is, the idea of “learning” isn’t something that is one-and-done but rather is an ongoing activity, a muscle that I should constantly flex and use and build throughout my life.
The other learning that I had about learning was that it could be on any manner of subjects and topics that interested me. It didn’t have to be on subjects that were considered ‘conventionally useful‘ or that didn’t mean much to me.
“If you wish to improve, be content to appear clueless or stupid in extraneous matters." — Epictetus
I’ve been turning this quote over in my head for a long while now, and there’s something about it that resonates incredibly strongly with me.
The trouble is, I can’t quite figure out what.
Is it suggesting that if we are focused on becoming expert in a particular area, we mustn’t be afraid of appearing stupid or unknowledgeable i.e. that we’ve figured everything out already…
“Why are we so afraid of secrets? Why won’t we take risks and figure out something new? We have given up our sense of wonder at secrets left to be discovered?” - Peter Thiel
The problem with the way our educational system works, in general, is that it is designed to produce established skill sets (mostly) that serve a world that has structure. Identify your specific focus area early, dedicate most if not all of your time and academic resources towards that focus area and dutifully march down that well-trodden path to become a doctor, lawyer, engineer, accountant, programmer, etc.
We have this obsession, usually rightly so, with organized, accredited education. In an era when economic disparity and the income gap is at its widest, getting a “proper education” isn’t a nice-to-have, it’s a must-have.
Which is something most of us agree on, plus the fact that a proper education is defined as not simply completing high school, but obtaining a college degree, at minimum. I think I’m on pretty safe ground when I say that.
