Is school a waste of time?

[fuji]

If this was early in my career, I'd say that teaching people soft skills is more important..... "you can't teach personality, but anyone can learn to use a computer". But as someone in the middle of their work life, and seeing how people act, and being someone who trains others how to do stuff, I 100% change my view.

Teaching people hard skills is much more important. And the older they are, the harder it is to teach. It gets to a point some people can't be taught anymore technical stuff. Trust me. When I have to train people in financials and systems, the younger people get it. They may make mistakes because they lack experience, but you can see they are trying to get it. Some guy who is 25 years old will get it even though he's still green behind the ears.

The 50 year olds that need to learn to use a program or a new way of analyzing data are 99% stuck and can't do shit. They rely on pen and paper stuff from 25 years ago, or that basic way they figured out how to do on Excel 12 years ago and hopes that primitive way can still work in 2017. It likely won't. And that's when those older people come running for help. They don't have the analytical skills, don't have the computer skills, and have trouble processing the huge swaths of info and data that churn out nowadays.

But by your own point, if you teach somebody hard skills in school they will be out of date ten years later. So what's the value of it?

I think school should force you to do hard work, learn to write, learn to work in a group, do presentations, solve hard analytical problems in math and science. If you can do all that you can learn how to read a financial statement or how to operate the latest work place software.

 

[Occasionally]

But by your own point, if you teach somebody hard skills in school they will be out of date ten years later. So what's the value of it?

I think school should force you to do hard work, learn to write, learn to work in a group, do presentations, solve hard analytical problems in math and science. If you can do all that you can learn how to read a financial statement or how to operate the latest work place software.

Hard skills don't necessarily mean an exact task. Something like being good with a computer is a technical skill that helps people in lots of jobs. Some people are good at it, some people are lousy no matter how hard they try.

Same thing goes with having a good analytical mind to process info instead of one of those nitwits who throws up their hands and says "OMG, too much information and too many tabs". Some people can plow through a 30 tab spreadhseet and do math in their head. Some people have trouble doing simple math despite being a 30 year veteran.

And as time goes on, it only gets worse for them as every company has more data, has more programs to use, and people have to know how to do things themselves. Companies cut back on staff so people have to be self-reliant. Some people are, while some people need 3 jr. analysts to help them with basic stuff. And that stodgy guy will never learn how to do it, never want to do it, and even if they tried will likely be bad at it. Instead, some new grad can somehow pick it up quickly.

Those stodgy people are the ones will usually get axed when it comes to the usual reorg most companies do every 4-5 years.

Got to get with the times.

 

[Smallcock]

Good pts.

For me, it's something like this:

Elementary school: Important for the basics, getting along with people, and learning how to take direction. Kids are young too. One part learning, one part fun.

High school: Important for helping determine what career. I guess lots of people still have no clue, but for me I knew from grade 10 I wanted to do business so I focsued on Economics and Bus Admin courses. As many as available (not a lot, so I had to fill out my high school credits with science and advanced math courses), and then pursued business in university. So for me it was blatant what to do in life. But for others I guess not. Most stuff learned in high school is useless in a practical sense. In fact. I'd put gym class as more useful than most courses I took. Not only was it more fun, but it gave me an idea what sports to play later on in rec leagues and goofing around with friends. On the other hand, I'm confident there is 0 content from Geography and History class I've used in my life. And 0 content from reading Shakespeare applies to real life.

I understand it may help reading comprehension and such, but how about having kids read on normal everyday stuff and having them apply reading/writing skills to that? Shit, instead of being graded on Romeo and Juliet, how about have kids learn to write a resume? Or helping a person write a mature and logical multipage response to Rogers Cable who is fucking you over double billing you. Who knows. But if it involves reading and writing and getting your pt across, structure it so it kind of relates to something real or interesting.

Or let's say grade your English and communication skills by having kids lets say write a training manual on how to fix a flat tire. That would involve kids clearly dictating with instructions and pics how to show someone to change a tire. That involves clarity, sequence, both text and visuals etc.....

Well said.

 

[CoconutLove]

My attitude towards my schooling was about knowledge gaining. So it wasn't a waste to me. If I looked to schooling for career training or a vocation, I could see it being a huge waste of time.

 

[Smallcock]

Higher education has changed:

 

[Agness]

goddamit, always late to the party /smh

I share the opinions stated in this video; figuring the British run fairly similar to our system... though I'm real envious of the vast majority of UK universities being government financed.

 

[Young_City]

Skimmed through this thread and I thought I'd chime in because I've been to two different universities in Toronto and I'm currently a student. There are fields, such as economics and engineering for example, where I believe you would have to attend university. Most university students today go to university because they either feel as if they have to or are pressured by their parents. I also don't agree that degrees like Art History or English are useless. I know someone who attended Virginia Tech and majored in Art History and was smart enough to network while in school and now makes 80K working for an insurance company. (He started at about 40k.) At the same time I know someone who received their PhD in behavioural neuroscience and even though she learned a great deal she ended up, ironically, also working for an insurance company because she couldn't find a job in her field.

I regularly take courses through Coursera and do a ton of reading on my own and I can say that I've learned more on my own than from the majority of my university classes.

It all depends on the person and if they are able to network and, especially today, learn skills that have almost become a necessity in today's economy. For example, I took courses on the programming language R and based on that alone was offered a very good job with great pay and benefits, which I sadly had to turn down because it would conflict with my schooling.

 

[superstar_88]

Depends on what you define as schooling, if by schooling you mean strictly what is learned in the classroom and to solely learn for the sake of being able to be materially successful; than I don't believe you have utilized your time effectively. In the refined and advanced societies of their times, ancient Greece, Persia, Rome, Golden age of Islam, Renaissance, Enlightenment and the Industrial Revolution, learning has been seen as a noble pursuit, not as a means to an end.

Material success and education are not always positively related, and increasingly nor is civility and refinement. If one's aim is to be materially well off, then higher education may not always be the key. If one aims to able to better understand the world around them either practically or in theory, then education is important. More often then not those who have an education end up utilizing that knowledge to provide for themselves comfortably.

For someone who sounds educated you interchanged the use of then and than in 2 instances.

 

[Big Rig]

goddamit, always late to the party /smh

I share the opinions stated in this video; figuring the British run fairly similar to our system... though I'm real envious of the vast majority of UK universities being government financed.

Agree with vid. You forget 80% of what you learned never having used it, or even brought it up in conversation.
Yet, as the video says you never learned first aid in school . That is a joke.

Personally, I always wanted a high school version of "Hell Week" like the special forces do. A few days of that will change your life. Everything else would seem easy in comparison.