How to Waste Your Education
Apr 29th, 2010 | By Christopher Berkompas | Category: Business, Lead Articles
If my two short years as an entrepreneur have persuaded me of anything, it is this: there is a danger in too much education.
All education has an end goal in mind, some application where it is meant to bear fruit. The problem is that most academic learning doesn’t do this. It’s designed to give you a background that you can use, later, when you enter the real world, get a job, or start a company.
There’s a concept in manufacturing known as work in process (WIP). In retail, it is known as inventory. If you want to run a profitable company, you need to minimize both. Half-finished widgets are worth nothing, and they burden your infrastructure. Inventory sitting on the shelves is money you could be investing elsewhere. Stocking products is expensive; to make money, you have to actually sell something.
The same holds true for educational approaches that try to load up a student with as much knowledge (WIP) as possible, to be applied en mass at some future date. If you’re still a student, how much do you remember from two semesters ago?
While all study attempts to provide context for ideas and facts, the reality is that trying to store knowledge without making application is like trying to save money through paying taxes. Sure, you may get some of it back later when you need it, but not much.
I point this out not to undermine higher learning, but to argue that it is not enough. The modern classroom experience does not excel at making real-world applications, and without that, much of the investment is wasted.
So, find ways to study in the trenches. Unless you plan to work in the ivory tower, it is a good idea to get out of doors (a lot) before you graduate.
In case you’re wondering, this has spiritual application too. Learning about God is good. Living what you know about Him is better.
Whatever it is that you’re learning, take it all the way home. Stop focusing on your grades (who cares!?) and instead focus on making real life applications.
The bottom line: Practice trumps theory.
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Chris is co-founder of Manage My Property, a directory of property management companies that provides property management leads for management companies nationally.
Thank you so much for writing this, Chris! We do need to remember that action is far more important that knowledge or theory. I Corinthians 13:2 says, “[T]hough I . . . understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; . . . and have not charity, I am nothing.” Thus, the Apostle Peter wrote that faith and virtue must precede knowledge. (See II Peter 1:5.)
As another interesting note, marketing guru Set Godin today released a post showing how the value in higher education has become inflated — especially in recent years. See that article at http://sethgodin.typepad.com.
You and Jordan have done such an excellent job practicing what you preach through your business Manage My Property.
Great point, Nathaniel. Access to information isn’t the problem anymore. In order to continue to compete, colleges need to demonstrate that they offer better experiences than student’s have access to in their own networks. As Seth points out, the accreditation standards are actually a problem, because they tie universities down to an inefficient, and out of date educational model, that needs to change. It seems like a lot of people are figuring this out, and becoming more conscious about their return on investment.
Nice read! I whole-heartily agree.
Agreed! Great article!
Wonderful article! What a great reminder that higher education should not be our goal- it should simply be a tool we use as needed!
Thanks.