I read an article from the Jerusalem Post titled, “What are universities for?“
What came to my thoughts immediately is how business owners often believe having a college or university degree somehow qualifies a person.
But from what I’ve personally heard from businesses nearby, a young man who’s maybe not even completed basic education makes a better employee, than one who comes fresh from college!
A person does not need a degree to make money. A person needs to be loyal, see a problem and fix it, and strive forward. It’s not lack of education, but lack of willingness, intuitiveness, and diligence that makes rotten workers.
You know I’m not against higher education. But learning only gets you so far. Continuous education somehow burns a man’s intelligence out of him.
Personally, I don’t have a single degree, but have been working full time since the age of 17, and worked during the summer for 6 years or so. Towards the end, education seemed so frustrating because I was solving problems in a text book that were not solving any problems in the real world! Certainly education is important! But it must be taken in balance.
I believe basic education should be done at home by the parents. I’ve both gone to a public school and gone through homeschooling. I know there are cases where homeschooling is not possible, but whenever it is, it’s best to be pursued.
After basic education is completed at home, the student should take up a job, and work with the passion God gave him. Be it a doctor, learn and work. Learning without working is like eating without exercise. Completely without use. The best doctors are not those who went to school for years, but those who learned with their hands. The same goes for trades, politics, and even the factory worker.
Want to become a rabbi? Read, memorize, and study the scriptures. Go through some courses sure, but don’t spend your life in school. The words of God were spoken to regular people. It doesn’t take years of education to know what the scriptures are saying. When you learn a language you don’t do it by simply reading and writing tests. But by interaction as well. By putting your knowledge to use while you are learning.
March 19th, 2007 at 7:26 pm
I completely agree with you. I don’t think that a lot of education does you much good. What you’ve pointed out are the major reasons that I have decided to go to college rather than university. I don’t really like the idea of spending 4 years in university. With college I can be finished in 2 or 3 years. Also, I like the learning style of college much better. College focuses much more on hands on training, whereas universities deal mostly with theory. Theory is important, but it doesn’t do you any good if you don’t know how to apply it. Also, if you’re going to get a higher education, it’s best to choose a program that offers co-op.
March 19th, 2007 at 7:41 pm
Just thought I’d add something else of interest. Awhile ago, I saw a post on a computer science forum asking for advice. This guy started learning programming, loved it, really enjoyed C++ programming, and decided that he wanted to pursue a career in this. So he started going to the University of Toronto for Computer Science, and they did a little bit of programming, but mostly, it was just theory. He says that he started to hate computer science. He’ll get his degree this summer, but he doesn’t know what he should do after. He’s lost interest in programming, and he doesn’t know what he should do now.