Life

#1
When it come to success in life the education you need has always changed.. Ill make it real easy what Im asking. In this day and age what do you think is most important for higher progress towards your career , higher education(theory's) or Real life (experience)?

Sometimes its hard to do both. Higher education takes a few years of your life. So Im asking which do you value more in your plan for success?

Theory's are good and all to learn but putting these theory's into action is were real life experience shines for me.
 

Kaze Araki

Libertarian Communist
#2
The creation of money allows for specialization of skills.
It also institutionalize education of which strife to achieve the specialization.
Achieving this specialization would then be the general goal for all adults.
They can gain money (and thus hedonistic success) this way, but the system also turn them into slaves.
Not the type of success that I really desire.
 

-lexus-

Visions of Hell
#3
Depends. Its theoretically possible to become a multi billionaire without even finishing high school. All you need is a very great idea and the ability to sell it. Especially now with internet allowing people to do things without having to go through college and such. However, such cases are rare. Most of us need some type of education to get started.


Anyways, I personally value theory over other things for now. Knowledge is power, and you need to understand the theories before you can put anything into practice and hope to succeed.
 
#4
I think it depends on the nature of the career you pursue. For careers that require a lot of on-the-dot thinking and discretion (I can't think of much examples, but jobs related to human rescue qualify), experience is crucial if you want to succeed. For careers based more on repetitive work like accounting or something, theory would help you more.
 

-lexus-

Visions of Hell
#5
I think it depends on the nature of the career you pursue. For careers that require a lot of on-the-dot thinking and discretion (I can't think of much examples, but jobs related to human rescue qualify), experience is crucial if you want to succeed. For careers based more on repetitive work like accounting or something, theory would help you more.
Physics. Being a doctor. Experience is pretty much worthless if you are a theoretical physics researcher. And without a whole lot of theory you can never be a good doctor.

But yeah, Athletes can do without theory I guess.
 
#6
Yeah, something like that. Fieldwork, or situation-based work (eg. a police offer) depends more on experience, while work based more on theory depends more on education.
 

Canabary

Administrator
#7
I'm not sure how experience is defnied here? Because, I can't really think of a single occupation that doesn't demand a degree of experience to succeed. Usually theory is just a small part of an occupation and to actually get good at what you do experience in the field is absolutely vital. Academics must know the theory they write/discuss, but more importantly how to express the theory, make conclusions and how to use their knowledge to better society (ideally). Doctors require experience to accurately and quickly diagnose a patient, surgeons need experience to be capeable with the scalpel, cops need experience to better read and handle situations, and CEOs need experience to know how to handle working environments, people and other business situations.

Although without the theoretical groundwork you can't actually do the practice, thus be unable to get any experience...
 

Kaze Araki

Libertarian Communist
#8
Doctors charges patients with high costs.
Surgeons would only operates those with insurances.
Cops beat a homeless person to death.
And CEOs robs taxpayers money through dirty politicians.

All these are learn through experiences, they does not exist in the text books.
 
#9
Doctors charges patients with high costs.
Surgeons would only operates those with insurances.
Cops beat a homeless person to death.
And CEOs robs taxpayers money through dirty politicians.

All these are learn through experiences, they does not exist in the text books.
That's not the point of this thread, I think. I interpret the matter of contention as whether theory or practical knowledge is better to succeed in a job.
 

Arachna

Spider
Staff member
#11
Back to the topic?

XD


When it come to success in life the education you need has always changed.. Ill make it real easy what Im asking. In this day and age what do you think is most important for higher progress towards your career , higher education(theory's) or Real life (experience)?

Sometimes its hard to do both. Higher education takes a few years of your life. So Im asking which do you value more in your plan for success?

Theory's are good and all to learn but putting these theory's into action is were real life experience shines for me.
Hm. This is a difficult question.

Higer education takes time. That is true. But is the result worth enough of the time spent or the price? In some cases it is. And in some it isn't. I guess it depends on what you are studying. And how much of that you will use afterwards in life. A lot of people can not find a decent job in their feild of expertise. That is sad, but it is true. :shrug:

Real life.....heh... Well i know about that the most. Since i tryed a lot of jobs. For now. ( I am not that old.) :p
Anyway. I guess I can agree with Hadriel.

He said it well :
experience is crucial if you want to succeed
Making mistakes is a normal process of learning. You can observe and learn quickly. If you watch professionals doing their work. it is not impossible to learn the ways to do things,without higher education.
 
#12
Depends. Its theoretically possible to become a multi billionaire without even finishing high school. All you need is a very great idea and the ability to sell it. Especially now with internet allowing people to do things without having to go through college and such. However, such cases are rare. Most of us need some type of education to get started.
.
Bill gates and Steve Jobs both never finished college.
 
#14
Yes and they arent doctors or theoretical physicists.

They were one of those few people who had a great idea and managed to sell it to the world.
Who said doctors and theoretical physicists was the only career life has. Very few people at least that I know desire to become those careers. Taking 6-10 years off to go to school isn't an easy thing after all.

Its the ultimate trade off between theory and experience. You waste allot of money and time to get that piece of paper.
 

Core

Fascinating...
#15
When it come to success in life the education you need has always changed.. Ill make it real easy what Im asking. In this day and age what do you think is most important for higher progress towards your career , higher education(theory's) or Real life (experience)?

Sometimes its hard to do both. Higher education takes a few years of your life. So Im asking which do you value more in your plan for success?

Theory's are good and all to learn but putting these theory's into action is were real life experience shines for me.
Your bigggest evil on the list is time. Even if you dont get an education, and theres no garantee that you will get it if you do pursue it, you can still make money and the short term capital you get(pretty much hand to mouth can be the status quo if you dont excel or force yourself to excel for the rest of your life but this also counts for getting an education.)
Obvious point: 25-26 for higher education but you start with a 6-7k salary which means it will be much be much easier to pay off your loans and onceyou are done with that... its all profit.
19-20 decent education middle ground.
16-18 AN education and prepare to life hand to mouth.

Time is the only thing on this planet that is yours. It is the only thing that you have as currency, no matter how smart, how educated or experienced you are.

Better paid jobs have either higher risk, or higher priority, requiring usually a mix of the following: Field experience and Academic foundation.

But the truth is... You call it success but what you really mean is money.(Or Comfortable living potential)

You have 5 options really:

Dont Conform to the system and be like Kaze(100% chance of success( no goal = success))

Get a decent/good education and hope you get lucky with getting a decent salary job(3-5k a month)(60% chance)

Get AN education and get a blegh salary (2k~)(80% chance)

If you have the perfect idea, the perfect delivery method and the perfect timing: You can be the next facebook or google.(<1%)

If you have Capital and know your way around 1 market/industry type.(In my case Software) Then you can turn that capital into alot more capital. Easy.. Painless. Effortless..( 120% but without capital >0% )
 
#18
Primary school (High school) was preparation for factory work, essentially.

Higher Education is for the development of the intelligentsia (Study of Philosophy, writing, etc), and for jobs that are far more technically demanding (engineers, biochemical engineers, economics, finance, "business")

Primary education has become a basic pre-requisite for living in our post-industrial world. It has become a lingua franka.

As for Higher education, it we wish to be competitive in the blossoming technological economy, training in these areas is essential. By definition, if it can be learned in a class, it can be learned in the real world, but as for companies and industries that require higher education and specialization in the field, they won't put up with someone who wants to "learn as they go".

As charming as that idea is to me. I hate college, but I can't pretend that it doesn't continuously challenge me and enlighten me to things I'd have never addressed organically.
 

-lexus-

Visions of Hell
#19
Who said doctors and theoretical physicists was the only career life has. Very few people at least that I know desire to become those careers. Taking 6-10 years off to go to school isn't an easy thing after all.

Its the ultimate trade off between theory and experience. You waste allot of money and time to get that piece of paper.
My point was as a counter to your two guys who build a career on balls, skill and experience. Most people will need a combination of theoretical knowledge and experience.
 
#20
My point was as a counter to your two guys who build a career on balls, skill and experience. Most people will need a combination of theoretical knowledge and experience.
Of course, but it's also important to remember that the field was wide open and ripe for conquest.

There were no school majors that could properly educate Bill Gates when he made his breakthrough. The major entrepreneurs can often be those without official training, but they don't make up a significant amount of the workforce.

It is far safer (statistically) to receive training for a pre-existing structure, rather than build one yourself.