Deans, Principals and school administrators, I apologize for this. But not really.
Back in the day, we all used to learn our trades by apprenticing. Cooks would cook, painters would paint and blacksmiths would pound real metal next to some old-timer with calloused hands and spiders in his beard. He probably smelled like the devil and was rude to the passing ladies, too. But at the end of a few months the blacksmith knew how to blacksmith. If he didn’t, the old dude would keep smashing his head against the anvil.
But now we go to school. Yawn. We look at slide shows, get lectured at and read books about our industry, instead of being actually in the industry. Yawn again. Then we graduate, only to realize that all we really learned was how to do homework, but not how the nuts and bolts all go together.
Doctors and lawyers and other people who wield scalpels need real school certificates of some sort. In these disciplines, practitioners just won’t make it unless they’ve proven they really know what they’re doing.
And I’m fine with that. If you’re going to be playing with my liver, I’d much prefer that you were in school for 96 years and have a very large certificate with signatures on it.
But what about the rest of us? What if you want to be a writer? Or an artist? Or a business person? Or a consultant?
I’ve had a few life-consulting gigs (for lack of better term) of late. In two cases the person I was talking to was very busy putting off a dream of theirs because they didn’t have an education in the subject. I asked, “Do you mean you don’t have training or you don’t have an education?” Because they’re different.
Do I know what I’m talking about?
With me that’s always debatable. But let me tell you how I live life and make money and you can sort it all out for yourself.
If you’re personally and spiritually invested in a subject, you’re going to learn more than someone who’s just cranking out homework for a passing grade.
I design websites, write, do graphic design, do a bit of consulting and some marketing here and there. In all of these subjects I have zero school training, zero classes, nothing. This was stuff I learned burning the midnight oil and being interested. And, frankly, when you’re interested in something you end up soaking up quite a lot of knowledge. And it’s effortless that way, as I’m sure you’ve experienced.
Putting off life while learning about living life
Now, let’s get this straight. I’m not against learning. I’m not against training. But I am very much against wasting time or putting off life while you learn stuff and listen to people rattle off opinions at you. And I’m even more against taking classes that move at the speed of the slowest student.
The best way to learn is on the job. You want to design websites, make one for your Uncle Bob.
Want to learn how to run a business? Start one.
Want to learn about engines? Take one apart and try your hardest to put it back together again (sorry ’bout your motorcycle, Dad).
Want to learn how to write? Start writing.
Want to sew stuff and sell it? Start sewing and put up a website (Sis, that one’s for you).
The practical side of things
Thing is, you can’t really design a website or start a business or write a book unless you get to work and figure it out. The best part of on-the-job training is that you pretty instantly find out what works and what doesn’t. Your first hard-ass client will quickly disabuse you of matters of lesser importance. And you’ll disabuse yourself of unnecessary actions once it becomes obvious that you just ain’t gonna make your deadline. And that’s the way it should be.
I went through five years of architecture school to find that real-world architecture is an entirely different beast. My time would have been much better spent building houses, pouring cement or hitting my thumb continuously with a hammer. Designing fake concert halls and hearing, “Yeah, that’s a swell drawing” over and over isn’t of much use when it comes right down to it.
6 Comments
Charlie,
Well. I’ve been on both sides of this equation. The first time I went to college—I was sure, like you, that I knew what I wanted to do. Stopped with a half a year to go, when I knew there was only one thing I knew… that was not what I wanted to do.
I adore school. I love learning in a head-in-the-clouds way, and that’s what I was doing. I could do it forever, but ya gotta work. So I stopped.
I started working, first at one thing and then another, stepping closer to what I do now. When I discovered who I was supposed to be, I went back to school. Got a degree in what I was already doing, which is more or less what I do right now.
And the degree I got, after already being a professional in the field, was AWESOME.
All around me I saw kids muddling through, not sure why they were learning what they were, unable to fully absorb it because they couldn’t see which things were critical to their future, or how to make them critical. Me, I was a sponge.
I have nothing against school. Love it, recommend it highly. Everything I do, I do way better, and more deeply thought out now, than I did before.
But if I hadn’t worked in the field first, I don’t think I could have made nearly as much use of school.
So yes, To school. And yes, Not To school.
Regards,
Kelly
Kelly -
Excellent response! I love it!
I too love school, love learning, love the community. I’ve even toyed with going back again for Computer Science.
But one thing has become very clear to me in my post-college days: there are very few things you can’t learn better, faster, cheaper all by yourself. Either by using the internet, Barnes & Noble or actually apprenticing.
I went to a sort of unusual high-school, where we were required to apprentice in our chosen fields. If you can imagine a bunch of 16, 17 and 18 year-old kids terrorizing law firms, high-tech companies and claymation studios in Portland, Oregon…that was us.
Then we go to college and all of a sudden there’s this huge squealing sound as we put on the brakes.
Learning is an awesome thing. Being smart is an awesome thing. And College can be an awesome thing. It’s just not nearly as awesome as living and working for real.
Kelly, you rock! Thanks for this…
Long time listener, first time caller.
Honestly I have to say I see both sides of the argument.
I’m happy to say I survived the “dotcomarama” days and saw many of my peers – who had very little in the way of college education – get rich beyond their wildest dreams… but it was a fluke.
They were in the right place at exactly the right time, and they knew people.
Right now I’m not doing anything remotely close to my college major. But that’s okay. What I learned through school was how to:
- Reason
- Stand up for what I thought was right
- Explain myself clearly (may not be doing that now…)
- Solve problems creatively
The other thing college taught me was CONFIDENCE. I knew I could finish something that stretched my limits and was difficult at times. Some of my friends quit when it got too hard.
Getting out of high school with a diploma doesn’t take much these days. Graduating from college still does.
If you have the drive, determination, stick-to-it-iveness and are willing to slog through the crap when things get hard – you don’t need college.
Oh, and I also learned how to drink copious amounts of beer. I probably could have learned that without a degree though.
-Cam
Charlie,
Cheaper, for sure. But there’s a lot of trial and error in learn-as-you-go, so I don’t know if it’s always better or even faster… even though I hear you on moving at the speed of the slowest student.
I always found that if you’re one of the fastest students, you can blast out a lot more work and learning by simply taking the requirements as minimums, not sitting back to coast every time you’ve reached “the end” of a lesson/book/assignment. Treat it like a job and rock it out. Now that’s practice for the real world.
Portland sounds kinda more hippie than I pictured. Mostly ‘cuz all I picture is wet. Hm.
Cam,
I love your “what I learned.” Totally agree on all of them.
One thing I can definitely say, without my BFA I would never have learned to present/defend as well nor as diplomatically. Nothing since has been so harsh, nor required so much tact, as going before a panel of smug, grumpy profs once a semester to explain myself and get the green light to go on. If folks had to do that in every course of study, we’d turn out far more articulate college grads.
Until later,
Kelly
Both sides of the coin here.
I dropped out of CEGEP with six months to go, and went to work for 15 years. I regretted dropping out immediately.
People would ask me what my dream is in life, and I’d answer automatically, “Finish my education.” I held onto that dream as tight as I could, and a few years ago, I finally went back to school.
And now, I had experience behind me. I learned because I wanted to. I enjoyed it. And…
I stopped. I started a business, got too much work and something had to go. School was it.
But – three years later, one year short of my BA degree, and I realize that I am now a professional in many areas. Copywriting, Marketing, Branding, Business Consult, Design Consult… many things. Why?
Because I self-educated based on interest. The cost today is dead low, and access is wide open. The psychology degree I wanted? I still want it. But it’s easier and faster to learn on my own and work while learning, applying the new knowledge.
I even taught myself to juggle.
So will I finish my education? Yes. It’s still my dream. But it’s a desire, and not an obligation to succeed. I already have success because I believe in me and my ability to learn what I need to know to make it.
Cam -
Hey there! You being an old-timer around here, I’m glad you commented on this one. Had a feeling this would be one of those posts to elicit lots of comments.
Your little list of things you learned is exactly what I took away from school as well. In fact, after I read your comment I started thinking about my schooling and how much damn fun it was. I take it a bit for granted now that I’m very able to learn what I want, when I want. But probably a lot of that came from college.
Kelly -
Well, yeah, Portland is wet. And not very hippie at all. Except for portions of it.
You made a really good point about being a fast student and being able to knock out more work. College is one of those places where you get out of it what you put in.
A musician guy I schooled with never practiced outside of class. He rock-climbed instead. So…come graduation day, he wasn’t exactly a musician yet. It would be pretty easy to blame it on school (as my post sort of does, unintentionally) but who’s fault is it really?
James -
Luckily for you and me and Kelly and Cam, college will be there for us whenever we decide to go back. I’ll be doing Computer Science and you’ll be getting your PhD in Chainsaw Juggling.
I can’t see you going to school for…shit, writing, business, consulting or being generally awesome. You’ve already got those nailed, bub.